A survey found that about 25 percent of the people in Tsirang have water only during summer. Four percent did not have access to water in the dzongkhag.

NEC’s environment officer, Tshewang Lhamo, said that in Tsirang 53 percent of the population depend on spring water, 39 percent on streams.

She added that 8 percent of the people depend on ponds and rivers. “The available water and the demand were also compared for each gewog both for the present and the future time period along with the impacts of climate change on the water resources in the dzongkhags.”

Tsirang has 12 gewogs with a population size of 21,816.

The survey report showed that about 56 percent of the people were ‘very satisfied’ with the water quality while 33 percent were ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the water quality. About six percent of the surveyed were not satisfied.

In Tsirang, the demand for water is expected to increase in future with increase in population.

Although the water demand in almost all the gewogs in Tsirang have increased, water demand in Kilkhorthang gewog is maximum.

“Kilkhorthang gewog had the highest water demand but the water available there was found to be lower than most of the gewogs in the dzongkhag, which could lead to a possible increase in the demand and supply imbalance in the gewog in the future.”

The survey also studied water adequacy for irrigation in Tsirang. About 47 percent of the people surveyed found water for irrigation inadequate in Tsirang. Nineteen percent faced severe shortage of water during irrigation.

While 33 percent of people found irrigation water adequate, only 1 percent of the surveyed found abundant water for irrigation.

Phurpa Lhamo

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