Impact of planned water resource development on current and future water demand in the Koshi River basin, Nepal

The water resources of the Koshi Basin (87,311km(2)) are largely untapped, and while proposals for their development exist, their impacts on current and future water demand are not quantified. The current study is the first to evaluate the impacts of 11 proposed development projects for hydropower generation and water storage. We find that 29,733 GWh of hydropower could be generated annually and 8382 million m(3) of water could be stored. This could satisfy unmet demand in the current (660 million m(3)) basin situation and in future scenarios - i.e. population, agricultural and industrial growth - that are projected to have 920, 970 and 1003 million m(3) of unmet demand, respectively, by 2050.