BAMBO OOANDBIOEN NGINEERINGIN NTERVE ENTIONSSFOR

MITIGA ATIONO OFRIVER RBANKEROSIO ON:ACA

ASESTU
UDY
kReductionInitiativves
KailaliDissasterRisk

11/11/2010
MERCYCORP PSNEPAL
UllaDons

Contributorss
MohanChandraBishwakaarma
SagarPokharrel
SagarGautamm

Page1



TableofContents

I. Context..................................................................................................................................3
II. Techniques............................................................................................................................4
III. StrategicApproach..............................................................................................................10
IV. Sustainability.......................................................................................................................10
V. Impact.................................................................................................................................10
VI. Replication...................................................................................................................................10
References.11

Annex:Bioengineeringspecies12

I. Context
Floods areamajor hazard in Nepal contributing to endemic povertyand this is likely to increaseas climate change
proceeds. The Siwalik range in the southern Nepal sees an annual sharp rise of water flows followed by a rapid
recession. This often causes high flow velocities and little lapse time between the start of the flood and its peak
discharge, leaving the population no or very short warning time. The ensuing flash floods damage agriculture land,
crops, lives, property and livelihoods. Mercy Corps Nepal and the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) Kailali District
Chapter have implemented two consecutive projects in the FarWestern Development Region of Nepal in order to
prepare communities for such hazards. The projects were supported by the European Commission via its
HumanitarianAid and Civil Protection department (DG ECHO) under the DIPECHO Fourth and Fifth Action Plans for
South Asia. The first project, the Kailali Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives I (KDRRI I) was implemented in six
communitiesbetweenNovember2007andApril2009.Thestatedaimofthisprojectwastobuildsafercommunities
through Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives in collaboration with communities, local governments and other key
stakeholders. Project interventions included local capacity building and training, early warning systems, smallscale
mitigation, education, and facilitation of coordination. These activities are now expanded to an additional ten
communities in five VDCs through the Kailali Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives II (KDRRI II) from June 2009 to
September2010.BuildinguponthelessonslearnedandreplicatingthebestpracticesofKDRRII,theKDRRIIIaimto
contributetotheoveralldisasterriskreductionstrategyinNepalfocusingprimarilyonsupporttolocalcommunities
andinstitutions.

Primary problems faced by the communities supported under the KDRRI I and KDRRI II projects are inundation of
settlement areas, erosion of river banks on the receding flood and aggravating the shifting tendencies of the river
courses. During the monsoon season, heavy rainfall upstream in the watershed trigger flash floods resulting in
catastrophic situations for downstream communities in the plain areas. The flood water carries huge amount of
sediment causing the river bed to raise, undercutting of the toe of onebank and accumulation of sediment on the
otherbank.Theinundationsituationisfurtheraggravatedby
back water when the tributaries meet the bigger Mohana
River in the south with stable and confined banks on the
Indiansideoftheriver.

Thetraditionalmeasuresforriverbankprotectionsuggested
by technicians in Nepal are gabion structures and
communities living along the rivers expect support from the
government, donors, NGO/INGO for such structures. These
measures might be relevant in some river systems, but have
failedintheriversintheareasofKailalidistrictsupportedby
the KDRRI projects. Gabion structures have proved not
feasibleinriverswithsandy,siltyorloamytypesofsoilasinthe Photo1: Bankerosions
lower part of the Mohana River and its tributaries such as
KandraRiverandtheycannoteffectivelysolvetheerosionproblem.Ifgabionstructuresareconstructedinareaswith
thekindofsoilpresentintheseareas,itwillratherattractflowandfacilitateerosionofsurroundingsoil,causingthe
failureofthestructureitself1.

1
ReportonAssessmentandRecommendationforBioEngineeringInterventionsalongtheKandraRiver,Padma
BahadurKhadka,January2010.

3
Bamboo work and bioengineering is an essential measure introduced by the projects for bank protection. Using
bamboowallsfortoeprotectioncombinedwithplantationonthebankandthetopoftheriverbankforstabilization
oftheriverbankisthekeytothesuccessoftheseinterventions.Thesetechniquesprotectandstabilizeriverbanksby
preventingerosionandreducingshallowseatedmassmovement.Thetypeofvegetationisimportantandshouldbe
carefullyselectedforthispurpose.Themethodsusedwillcatchdebris,armorthesurface,reinforcethesoil,anchor
thesurfacelayer,andsupporttheslopeordrainwater.Initially,thestrengthofthebamboostructureswillbeatits
maximum,anditsstrengthwillgraduallydecreaseastimepassby.Thestrengthofthebioengineeringworkwillbe
relativelylowintheinitialphaseandastheplantsgrow,theworkwillgainstrength.Thusthiscombinationofbamboo
workandbioengineeringinterventionsgivesacompletesolutionreducingtheerosionandstabilizingtheriverbanks.

The bioengineering plants used come partly from the community nurseries established with the support of the
projects, partly from areas around the communities and partly from other nurseries. Priorities are given to local
speciesscrub,grassandtreestoensuretheecologicalbalanceandwherepossibletoincludefruittrees(i.e.banana)
andspecieswithanutritiousvalueorspecieswhichcanbeusedforincomegeneration.Thespeciesshouldfurther
havedeepandwiderootnet,befastgrowing,theplantsbeofmediumsizeplantandselfregenerating.

The Kalali or DIPECHO project organized technical trainings (nursery management, bioengineering techniques and
quality control) for members of the community
disaster preparedness committees and sub Sonu Ram Chaudhary, member of the disaster preparedness
committee in Bishanpur knows the Mohan River like the back
committees for nursery management. The
forhishand,swimmingandfishingalongitsbanksforthelast
communitiescontributedwithlaborforthenurseries,
40years.Notallmemoriesoftheriverarepositive.Hehasseen
bambooandthebioengineeringinterventionsandall howtheMohanahaschangeditcourseandbroughtdistressto
local material, while the project supported seed and hiscommunity.Hestillremembersthepainhesufferedaschild,
seedlingsandothermaterialforestablishmentofthe when the whole community had to resettle due to heavy river
nurseriesandwireandbamboo,wherethiswerenot erosion. The river has changed it course with more than 800
available. meterandcutmorethan35hectaresofproductiveland.

When the project team first met Sonu Ram his reaction was:
II. Techniques
"We have tried everything from construction of raised
A) This technique was introduced under the
embankmentparalleltotheriverflowtoplantationofbesarmi
KDRRIprojectalongtheMohanaRiver: plantsalongthebankandnothinghasworked.Whatweneed
Bamboocribwallswereconstructedatthetoeofthe isaseriesofgabionstructuresotherwisewewillbehistory"
river bank (slope). Four meter long bamboo poles
Laterwhenhewasintroducedtotheprojecthesaid"Wewant
weredriven3meterintotheriverbed(seephoto2)
to try the bioengineering techniques and see if it works. We
in two parallel rows forming the outer walls of the havesomeconfidenceinthe technique,butlet'sseewhenthe
crib(seephoto3).Thespacebetweenthetworows monsoonstartswhetheritworks".
ofbamboopolesisonemeterandthesamebetween
Afterthemonsoonseason hisresponsewas:"Thisyear'sflood
the poles in the two rows. Bamboo poles were then
was the biggest in 30 years and where we did the bio
split and woven in between the poles. The space engineeringworkwehaven'tlostanylandtorivererosion.We
betweenthetworowswasfilledwithsandbags(see areimpressedandplantocontinuethework".
photo 4). The vertical bank was cut to slope angles
Bishanpur has now on their own replicated more than 550
less than 30 degrees (see photo 5). Sandbags were
meterofbankprotectionworkandareplanningfor200meter
placed on the slopes up to the mean river level (see morethisyear.
photo 6) and jute bags were place on the slopes
abovethemeanriverlevel(seephoto7).Scrubswere
plantedonthejutebags(seephoto8)andsandbagsinordertostabilizetheslopes.Seedlingsfromthecommunity
nurseries were transplanted (see photo 9) on the land adjacent the slopes to form a green belt which will further
stabilize the soil and reduce the speed of the flood water. This technique can be combined with bamboo spurs or
woodenspurs.

Materialneeded:bamboopoles,equipmenttodrivethepolesintotheriverbed,usedcementbags,sand,jutebags,
wire,seedlingsandplants(pleaserefertoAnnexIforspeciesintroduced)..Localmaterialassandandmudwasthe
contributionfromthecommunities.
Man power: Skilled labor is required to manage techniques for driving the bamboo poles into the river bed. The
communitiesprovidedtheadditionalmanpower.
Challenges:Cementbagswerequitehighindemandandthecostfluctuatedwiththedemand.Thebagsgetseasily
damaged and torn as they are exposed to hard weather conditions and kids who like to play on the bags. The
technique requires supervision during plantation and regular maintenance of bamboo work and plantation. Areas
withnewlyplantedbioengineeringplantsmustbeprotectedfromgrazing,firingandcutting.
Costper100mwork:

Material Price (NPR) Price(EUR)

Bamboo NPR13,150 EUR138

Sandbags NRP32,000 EUR337

Rope NPR5,000 EUR53

Jutebags NPR4,436 EUR47

Total NPR54,586 EUR575

Photo2:Placingbamboopoles Photo3:Bamboocribwall

Photo4:Fillingcribwallwithsandbags Photo5:Bamboocribwallandslopegradient

Photo6:Sandbagsontheslope Photo7:Jutebagsontheslope

Photo8:Plantationgrassandscrubs Photo9:Plantationofgreenbelt

Photo10:Sedimentdepositied Photo11:Sedimentdeposited

B) ThistechniquewasintroducedundertheKDRRIIIalongtheKandraRiver:
Bamboo walls were constructed
alongthetoeofthebank(seephoto "Fifteenyearsagotheriverwas500mfromourcommunity,butnowitjust
15). A single row of four meter long outsideourdoorandoverthelastthreetofouryearswehavelostmorethan
tenhectaresoffertileland.Wehavedoneeverythingpossibletocontrolthe
bamboo poles were driven three
riveraloneandwithsupportfromorganizationsandthegovernment.Three
meter down in the river bed (see
times(1988,2006and2008)gabionspurswereconstructedtoprotectour
photo 12). The poles were placed communityandeachtimefourspurs.Thelastspurslastedlessthanone
with one meter intervals and split season.ThecostofthespurshascomeuptomorethanNPR1,500,000plus
bamboowoveninbetweenthepoles ourlaborcontribution.Becauseofourpastexperiencewedidnottrustthe
(seephoto13,14).Bamboospurs10 bioengineeringtechniqueswhenitwasfirstpresentedforus,butthenwe
to15meterlongand1.5meterwide thoughtwhynottryitout.Thisyearwehaven'tseenanycuttingwherewe
and filled with dead and live didthebioengineeringwork.Wehaveconcludedthatitwillbefoolishto
branches(seephoto16).Thesewere investmoreingabionworkasitwillnotworkintheKandraRiver.Weare
nowplanningtomaintainandreplicatethebioengineeringworkalonga
placed with a distance of 15 to 20
longerstretchoftheriver.
meter. The morphology of the river
(bends and width of the river) will (SerpTamata,DisasterPreparednessCommitteeCoordinator,Kusumghat
determine the actual distance CommunityI)
betweentwospursandthelengthfor
the spurs. Sharp bends will require
lessdistancebetweenthespurs.Theanglebetweenthespurandtheriverbankshouldbe10to15degreesin
downstreamdirection(seephoto17).Thefirstspurwillbetheshortestandeachofthefollowingspurswillbe
slightlylongerthanthefrontrunner(seephoto18).Thesespurswillallowthewatertopassandtheywillatthe
sametimereducethevelocity.Sedimentwillbedeposited(seephoto20and21)behindthespursandthewater
current will be slightly diverted away from the bank. Seedlings from the community nurseries, plants locally
collectedandprocuredfromothernurseriesweretransplantedontheslopes,atthetoeofthebankandonthe
landadjacenttheslopestoformagreenbelt(seephoto19)whichwillfurtherstabilizethesoilandreducethe
speedofthefloodwater.

7
 Materialneeded:bamboopoles;liveanddeadbranches;wire;equipmentfordrivingthepolesintotheriverbed,
and bioengineering plants (please refer to Annex I for species introduced). Local material as live and dead
branchesandmudiscontributionfromthecommunities.

Man power: Skilled labor is required managing techniques driving the bamboo poles into the river bed. The
communitiesprovidetheadditionalmanpower.

Challenges:Thetechniquerequiressupervisionduringplantationandregularmaintenanceofbambooworkand
plantation.Areaswithnewlyplantedbioengineeringplantsmustbeprotectedfromgrazing,firingandcutting.
Costper100mwork:

Material Price (NPR) Price(EUR)

Bamboo NRP24,000 EUR253

Wire NPR1,935 EUR20

Total NPR25,935 EUR273

Photo12:Placingbamboopolesforbamboospur Photo13:Splittingbambooforcribwall

Photo14:Bambooweaving Photo15:Bamboowalllongthetoeofthebank

Photo16:Fillingthebamboospur Photo17:Bamboowallandbamboospur

Photo18:Bamboowallandbamboospurs Photo19:Plantinggreenbelt

Photo20:Sedimentdeposited Photo21:Sedimentdepositedbehindbamboospurs

9
III. StrategicApproach
Basedonhazardmapping,siteobservations,observationofthemorphologyoftheriverstheprojectdecidedwiththe
communitiestoapplylowtech,lowcost,environmentalhealthyandeasyreplicable,longtermsolutionswiththeuse
oflocalmaterialandotherlocalresourcessuchasbambooandshrubs.

IV. Sustainability
Itisessentialtounderstandthatbioengineeringsystemscan'talwaysperformperfectlyintheinitialstage.Itwilltake
someseasonstogrowtheplantsandperformthefunction.Thesuccessofbioengineeringinterventionwilldepend
onthemaintenancesystemssetupbythecommunities.Routineandemergencymaintenanceshouldbeintroduced.

V. Impact
Positiveimpactofbothtechniqueshasbeenregisteredintermsofpreventedorreducedbankerosionandextensive
amountofsanddeposited(seephoto19and20)alongtheriverbankswhichslightlydiverttheflowofthewateraway
from the affected areas. The opposite was carefully assessed in order to avoid any unnecessarily damage to those
banks.
VI. Replication

Projectcommunitieshavesuccessfullyreplicatedthetechniquesoverstretchesofmorethan1,000meterwiththeir
ownmeansorwithsupportfromlocalauthoritiesand/ororganizations.TheDistrictSoilConservationOfficeinKailali
have replicated 5,000 m of the bioengineering interventions. Local NGOs in the district along with other partner
organizationhavereplicatedthetechniquesinKailali(i.e.theNGOBASE300m)andinanumberfloodpronedistrict
intheTarai.

the bank of Kandra River is often closed during the rainy

Kusumghat school on
season.Overthelastfiveyearstheschoolhaslostonehectareplaygroundlandand
twobuildings,andhadonebuildingdamagedduetoriverbankerosion.Mr.Upendra
Jha,PrincipalofKusumghatSchooltellsthat;"Schoolactivitiesareseverelyaffected
by the loss of facilities and frequent closure. We have constructed gabion
embankmenttocontroltherivercutting,butwithnosuccess.Weplannedtorelocate
theschool,butafterseeingtheeffectofthebioengineeringwork,wehavedecided
topostponetherelocationandfocusonreplicationofthebioengineeringwork".

10
References
1. Acharya,D.P.,Gautam,M.1992.ManagementofForestNurseries.CommunityForestryDevelopmentProject
(PhaseII).HMG/UNDP/FAO.SigmaOffsetPress,Kamaladi,Kathmandu,Nepal.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/ad225e/ad225e00.htm.
2. DoSCWM,2004.SoilConservationandWatershedManagementMeasuresandLowCost
Techniques.Soilconservationandwatershedmanagementcomponent(NARMSAP),Departmentof
SoilConservationandWatershedManagement,BaberMahal,KathmanduNepal.
3. MoWR,1999.ImprovementofTechnicalManualsforRiverTrainingWorks.WaterInducedDisaster
PreventionTechnicalCentre,MinistryofWaterResources,Pulchowk,Lalitpur,Nepal.VolI.
4. Gautam,D.R.,Bhatta,K.R.,Sharma,P.R.andFath.J.2009.FinalEvaluationReportofKailaliDisaster
RiskReductionInitiatives.AreportsubmittedtoMercyCorpsNepal.
5. Howell,J1999.RoadsideBioengineering.HisMajestysGovernmentofNepal.Departmentof
Roads,BabarMahal,Kathmandu,Nepal.
6. Jackson,J.K1994.ManualofAfforestationinNepal.ForestResearchandSurveyCentre.Ministryof
ForestandSoilConservation,KathmanduNepal.Vol1.
7. Khadaka,P.B2009.Anassessmentofrivermorphologyandsuitablebioengineeringinterventionsin
Kandrariver,Kailali.AtechnicalreportsubmittedtoMercyCorpsNepal.
8. Singh,A.M2008,ReviewReportonFloodControlMeasures,AtechnicalreportsubmittedtoMercy
CorpsNepal
9. Thakur,R.B2003.CompendiumofTreeSpeciesofNepal.Sarvottamoffsetprintingpress(P.)Ltd.
PutalisadakKathamandu,Nepal.Firstedition.

11
AnnexBioengineeringspecies
A. Treess
1
1. Khair(Acacciacatechu)

2
2. IpilIpil(Leu
ucaenaleucoceephala)

3
3. Amala(Phyyllanthusembllica)

4
4. Tanki(Bau
uhiniapurpurea
a)

5
5. Bainsh(Salixtetrasperma
a)

6
6. Sisoo(Dalb
bergiasisoo)

7
7. Gulmohar(Delonixregia)

8
8. Kimbu(Mo
orusalba)

B. Shrub
bs/herbs
1 Bamboo(D
1. Dendrocalamussspecies)

2
2. Bet/Rattan
n(Bambusaspecies)

3
3. Bihaya/Bessarmi/Saruwa(Impomeafisttulosa)

4
4. Kans(Sacccharumspontaneum)

5
5. Khar(Cymbopoganmicro
otheca)

6
6. Narkat(Arrundoclonax)

Contact:

MercyCorpss MercyCorpsFarWestern nAreaOffice
SanepaChow wk, Dhangadi5,Hasanpur
Lalitpur,Nep
pal Kailali,Nep
pal
Phone:+977 715555532 Phone:+97 7791526923
Mobile:+977 79803417998 Mobile:+9 977974117412
27

12