ABSTRACT
Successful management of water is critical to Nepal’s future development and indeed that of much of northern India and Bangladesh, for Nepal’s rivers contribute 45 per cent of the Ganges annual flow, and 75 per cent of the driest months’ average. Even now the 200,000 million cubic metre annual runoff from Nepalese rivers is under-used and at times causes a severe flood hazard in Nepal and downstream in India, but particularly in Bangladesh. Power generation, irrigation and the supply of clean drinking water have consistantly been identified in Five Year Plans as priorities for improvement.
