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Water poverty of Indrawati basin: analysis and mapping

The idea of a Water Poverty Index (WPI) with a numerical value was formulated by scientists in an effort to express the complex relationship between sustainable water resource management and poverty at all units of human organization, all the way from community to nation. The numerical values generated for the WPI are then used to create a Water Poverty Map, which presents a clear visual picture of the water situation in the given area.Initially, ‘Water Poverty’ was measured as a combination of resource availability and people’s ability to access the resource. Sullivan et.al. (2002) formulated the WPI to consider all the aspects involved with water management. Consequently, the WPI defines water poverty according to five components – Resource, Access, Capacity, Use and Environment. The study area for this research project is the Indrawati River Basin in the Central Region of Nepal. The WPI is calculated for the basin and subsequently a Water Poverty Map is drawn on a High-Medium-Low category scale.