Bhutan?s freshwater resources are increasingly put under pressure with increasing competition from various end users; situation is further intensified by increase in population, changing climatic condition and rapid socio-economic development of the country which includes hydropower, tourism and other industrial development. Today only about 78% of the population has access to safe drinking water and about 12.5% of the arable land is irrigated (RGOB, Bhutan Water Policy). There is a lot that we can do to change these figures.

Springs are the most important source of water for millions of people in the mid-hills of the Himalaya. Both rural and urban communities depend on springs for meeting their drinking, domestic, and agricultural water needs. There is now increasing evidence of springs drying up or their discharge reducing, as a result of which communities are facing water stress. The science of springs and hydrogeology are usually not well understood; aspects like linking recharge areas, the movement of groundwater and the difference between ?source? and ?resource? of springshed systems need to be demystified to local communities, administrators, and landowners. Springs are also part of complex social and informal governance systems, which are often inadequate both in terms of governance and management of the sources. This can also lead to disruption in the recharge areas.

The Assessment and mapping of water sources/springs in Bhutan 2021 conducted by Watershed Management Division of Department of Forest and Park Services indicated that out of 7,399 water sources, 0.9% (69) has dried up while 25.1% (1856) are in drying stage. In terms of water use, 5636 water sources are being used for drinking purpose while 841 for irrigation purpose and 580 water sources for both drinking and irrigation purposes. Only 38 water sources are being used for commercial purpose at the cottage and small scale industries. The assessment also found that there are 269 unused water sources for future tapping.

In general, impact of climate change (36.5%) followed by forest degradation and deforestation (28%) are sighted as the major factor contributing to drying up of water sources in the country. The other issues perceived to be contributing to drying up of water sources by the communities are; road construction, forest fire, over grazing, land use and land cover change, construction of transmission lines and other infrastructure developments, unstable geology etc. (WMD Report 2021)

With the fast depletion of these water sources, the farmers are facing serious challenge in meeting their day to day demand for water. Some of the farmers expressed that while their places are connected with water pipelines, but due to the drying of sources, their taps have now remained dried for last couple of years. Many collect water for drinking, cooking and sanitation from the nearby sources while some harvest rain water during monsoon period. Thousands of acres of their farm land have remained fallow due to inadequate water. Rural to urban migration have picked momentum as young people do not see any future in the villages. Human and wildlife conflict cases have increased by manifolds affecting the remaining farmers in the villages.

Dagana Dzongkhag recorded 719 water sources in 14 gewogs, however, it recorded highest number of both drying and dried-up water sources with 271 and 13 respectively. Tshangkha gewog has the highest number of drying water sources (76). Largjab gewog has 27 water sources in drying state and 4 already dried. Therefore, this project will focus its spring shed restoration intervention in two gewogs of Tshangkha and Largjab and a capacity building for the local leaders of all 14 gewogs.


Through this project, the WATER-Bhutan aims to conduct training programs to sensitize all local leaders (gup and mangmi) of 14 gewogs under Dagana Dzongkhag on the long term value of environmental conservation and short term needs of the communities to tackle water issues, human wildlife conflicts, land degradation. The primary focus of the project would be to manage water resources through Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach. As recommended in the SGP OP7 document on the need for co-financing, the local leaders will also be familiarized on the project management, including project proposal formulation for resource mobilization.