Abstract

This talk is based on a three-month internship at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal. There are three parts:

1) A brief discussion of what it’s like to live and work in the development sector in Nepal, with particular reference to ICIMOD .

2) A case study of spring revival experiments from the Nepal Mid-Hills. Due to a combination of changing land-use and climate, water scarcity is growing issue in the Mid-Hills of Nepal, a region over 10 million people call home. There is poor understanding of many aspects of the hydrogeology of this area, hence ICIMOD has developed a “need-to-know” approach using basic geology and hydrology to identify mountain springs and revive them. The recent work in Dailekh province is presented and preliminary conclusions discussed.

3) Moving forward: a brief discussion of how more advanced earth science techniques, such as satellite gravity observations and isotopic measurements, might be used in the future to learn more about the aquifers supplying water to those living in the Mid-Hills.