Rivers and Hydropower Projects In Nepal

Nepal is the second largest countey after brazil in water resources. There are thousands of rivers in the country. Most of the big rivers in the country originates  from the mountain and Middle hill. The river orginaring from the mauntains such as Arun, TamaKoshi, kaligandaki,Karnali, ans so on are snow fed rivers. These are perennial rivers.

The  flow of the water in the rives is originated from the middle hill  decreases in winter season. The rivers originating from the Churiya are naot –perennial so they dry up in the winter. There are three most important River system in Nepal; Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali. The Koshi is the longest river of Nepal. It has Seven Tributaries namely Arun. Tamor, Sunkoshi,Dudkoshi,Likhu, Tamakoshi, and  Indrawati which drain the estern reason of Nepal.

Gandaki lows in the central part of the Country. It has also seven main tributaries namely Kali-Gandaki, Bhudi-Gandaki, Marsyangdi, Trishuli, Seti, madi and  Daraudi. Similarly, Karnali flows in the western part of the Nepal and has its main tributaries as Humla Karnali, Mugu Karnali, Bheri, Tila  and Seti.

Besides these main rivers there are many important rivers of second and third order. Some of them are Mechi, Kamala, Bagmati, Rapti, Mahakali and so on.

Beside Many river in  Nepal, It has not get most of its renewable natural resources like water. Production of the electricity is Low. The history of hydro electricity started in 1911 with the development of th Pharping Hydropower plant. By 2009 Nepal produces 635 MW of electricity from both big and small hydroelectricity projects.

 Among the major hydro plants , Kaligandaki(144MW) , Marsyangdi(69MW), Kulekhani I(60MW), Kulekhani II(32MW), Khimti(60MW), Bhotekoshi(36MW), Trisuli(21MW), Devghat are the important for generating electricity in Nepal. Among the smaller hydro power project Seti(15KW), Tatopani I & II(2000KW) , phewa(1088KW), Tinau, and namche are significant.