Strengthening an Enabling Environment for Wastewater Reuse in Nepal’s Peri-Urban Agriculture
No hay miniatura disponible
Fecha
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
International Water Management Institute
Resumen
Descripción
This report assesses the enabling environment for wastewater reuse in Nepal’s peri-urban agriculture, focusing on policy and institutional coherence, technical and infrastructure capacity, human capacity, financial mechanisms, and social acceptance. Nepal has a relatively strong enabling policy base for wastewater reuse through national frameworks on WASH, environment, agriculture, and climate resilience, the transition to safe and scalable wastewater reuse requires stronger institutional coordination, reuse-oriented infrastructure investment, dedicated financing mechanisms, capacity development.
Implementation remains weak due to fragmented mandates across federal, provincial, and municipal levels, with limited coordination between key sectors such as water supply, agriculture, and environment. Wastewater reuse is largely confined to informal and small-scale practices rather than being integrated into planned municipal systems. Technical and institutional readiness is low, with less than 15 percent of wastewater treated, and most systems designed for disposal rather than reuse. Municipalities face shortages of trained personnel and weak coordination between sanitation and agriculture sectors, while financial mechanisms remain limited as wastewater reuse is not a budgeted priority and lacks dedicated incentives or financing windows. Private sector participation and structured PPP models for reuse remain limited. Social acceptance remains mixed, with widespread informal use driven by necessity but strong stigma among consumers due to health concerns and limited awareness.
Palabras clave
wastewater, water reuse, peri-urban agriculture, policy coherence, infrastructure, financing