Water Management through Indigenous Knowledge: A Case of Historic Settlement of Bhaktapur City, Nepal

Techno-Anthropological approach has been formulated in researching a traditional settlement of Bhaktapur City, Nepal. The practices of indigenous people have been analyzed by juxtaposing the science along with the indigenous technology. It has been significantly concluded that, the impetus behind the city sustainability is primarily the indigenous knowledge and sometimes this knowledge is overwhelming to even the modern scientific aspects too. Indigenous technology of water management in the historic city of Bhaktapur has been also found to be significant not only in terms of supply rather in terms of quality of water too. The reusability of water resources has given an excellent paradigm even to the modern approaches too. The lifestyle in terms of culture and religion has been associated with water for this city, and water management is also facilitated through cultural practices and religious establishments. A city regarded as ‘City of Devotees’ has disseminated a remarkable approach for the water management by keeping aside the modern scientific approaches. The city was established in the 13th century and practices are continuously adopted since then as indigenous practices through unrelenting trial and error, the indigenous technology of water management has been found to be rational hence revitalization of some components might be more energy efficient and economic for present day water scarcity solution in the city.