Samtse Dzongkhag is located at the extreme south west of our country Bhutan with theGPS coordinates of 89°2?57??E and 26°58?40??Wand has total area of 1305 km2. It shares south and west borders with our neighboring country India. The altitudinal elevation of Samtse Dzongkhag ranges from 200masl to 4400masl. The total population of the Dzongkhag is 70618 with its population density of 54 people per kilometer square (Dzongkhag population projection, 2016).
SamtseGeog is the main block with flourishing commercial activities. Most facilities and centers necessary for the public are established in this Geog. It has an area of 115 km2 comprising 8.8% of total area of the Samtse Dzongkhag.
In the year 2019, Samtse Divisional Forest has conducted a detail survey of water source in the Dzongkhag where Samtse Gewog has 56 numbers of recorded water sources, of which some water at sources were marked as dying due to implementation of unchecked developmental activity inside catchment area. Lamithang water source located at Lamithang village is one among many who shares same fate of status. As per locality, quality and quantity of water discharge has drastically decreased after DoFPS has issued Forestry clearance to Samtse Dzongkhag for National rehabilitation program measuring an area of more than 200 acres of forested land above the water source which is a potential recharge zone for many settlements down streams. Thousands of trees were cleared by NRDCL office from the National rehabilitation program area.
A small lake measuring 0.98 acre is found between rehabilitation area and the water source. This lake is a main source of water for both wild and domestic animal and also a potential recharge area for many down streams. As per the local community, the lake use to be much larger and deeper, and community gather annually to perform Puja near lake, but later discontinued due to shrinkage of lake and contaminations by deposition of debris and silt, from the unchecked developmental activities and deforestation around the lake. Nevertheless, community and the local authority have been planned to revived mentioned shrinking lake over the past year but couldn?t accomplished due to budget constrain and limited technical knowledge of the subject.
Therefore, the main objective of this project is to carry out hydrogeological survey for Lamithangwater source and identify potential recharge area. Then the mitigation work like revival of shrinking lake, construction of trenches, Check dam and enrichment plantation will be carried out. These will improve infiltration of rain water in recharge zone and also the quality of water discharged. Fencing around the water source will be carry out to improve hygiene and stop disturbance from wild and domestic animals for the continuity of supply of water.
Relevant mitigation activities around the area would certainly curb the degradation as well as rehabilitate the vegetation cover. This will enhance the stability of the land and further improve the habitats and breeding spaces for Assam leaf turtle Cyclemysgemeli, (a species of turtle family Geoemydidae which is listed as Near Threaten under IUCN conservation status) which is found in the project area. And this project will also help in reviving shrinking ecosystem of Bazzania bhutanica, a Critically endangered liverwort species (as per ICUN conservation status), which can only be found in the downstream of this project area (LafretiKhola and Bhandarey khola), through public advocacy and putting of signboard at the location. (Map.1 attached for more reference).
Neglecting the current trend of project area, sooner over the year a lake will be completely dried up, water discharge from the springs of down streams will drastically reduce or may dried up completely, causing water shortage in the communities and other institute. There will be more runoff water from recently cleared area for rehabilitation program, forming gully erosion and cause landslide resulting in shrinking habitats of mentioned endangered flora and fauna species. Therefore, particularly Bazzania bhutanica species may get extinct from the Bhutan as it is reported only to be found at that particular location. (Long et al.2010).
All the member of following villages will be benefited from implantation of this project:
1. Lamithang village-3 hhs
2. Gumbazor village-27 hhs
3. Majathang village -30 hhs
Total of 60 households of aforementioned Water User Group will be benefited. The other relevant stakeholders that will be profited from this project will be Samtse Gewog centre, Samtse RNR centre, Department of Forest and park services, health sectors and municipal sectors.

Project objectives and expected results
3.1.1. Primary objectives
? Identification/Location of potential recharge area of spring through hydrogeology survey
? Revival of dying lake (Possibly potential recharge zone/area for streams)
? Construction of various type of check dams at identified recharge area to stop soil erosion and gully formation, and to improve slippage of water towards aquifer
? Enrichment plantation of locally available tree species in degraded areas
? Digging of artificial tranches and creating artificial ponds to improve infiltration to recharge aquifer
? Fencing and construction of water tank to maintain hygiene
? Advocating public on presence of Key diversity species in their locality and their importance