Nepal's Terai has an estimated 8,800 MCM of groundwater reserves, based on assessments carried out in the 1970s and 1980s, and abstraction of groundwater from these aquifers has steadily increased with irrigation being the main water user. Electrification, promotion of solar pumps, increasing private investments in diesel pump irrigation and growing industrial water use are progressively increasing the demand for groundwater in Nepal's Terai and localized reports of groundwater depletion have started to surface. Monitoring the water levels of the Terai's aquifers is thus critical to ensure that groundwater development does not deplete the resource beyond sustainable limits. While the responsibilities of groundwater management are currently spread across different governmental bodies, the GWRDB retains a mandate for groundwater monitoring activities that are to be implemented through its branch offices.

Specifically, Nepal's GWRDB has the following main objectives:

Groundwater Field Offices are located at Biratnagar, Lahan, Mahottari, Birganj, Butwal, Dang, Nepalganj and Dhangadhi. As of now, each of the branch offices employs one data collector per overseen district who measures the groundwater level of ca. 20 wells per district on a monthly basis. These measurements have traditionally been recorded with pen and paper and transcribed into an excel worksheet that is stored with the GWRDB.

The manual procedure has three major shortcomings:

The goal of this dashboard activity is to provide an open data system for groundwater data in Banke district with the aim to develop a system that can be scaled to other districts of Nepal. The sub-objectives include:

The dashboard is being developed on a continuous basis. This first version is aimed to provide rapid support and real-time visualization for the ongoing data collection efforts. In the background we are constantly developing the feature set of the dashboard based on experience and user feedback. We therefore kindly invite anybody to share feedback, request additional features, or contribute their data or web development skills.
The monitoring wells were selected in 1980s and 1990s as part of UNDP and USAID funded groundwater development and sustainability programs including large hydrogeologic studies. The reports of these studies are available with GWRDB.
For data collection, we replaced the manual data entry with Open Data Kit (ODK) supported data entry on a tablet or phone. After measuring the water level, the data collector immediately enters the data in a survey form on his tablet which is directly send to the cloud, processed, and visualized. Data collection takes place on a monthly basis.

Department of Water Resources and Irrigation (DWRI) is a government organization, with a mandate to plan, develop, maintain, operate, manage and monitor different modes of environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable Irrigation Projects both surface and ground water or projects of water resources with irrigation as major component, particularly larger in size. Also, DWRI works in the field of water induced disaster management through water resources conservation and river training works. Additionally, groundwater level monitoring of Terai region is now the responsibility of DWRI after dissolution of the Ground Water Resources Development Board (GWRDB).

The exploration and identification of groundwater resources in Nepal began in 2024 BS. The Institution for Groundwater Development has evolved over the years, with a growing emphasis on sustainable water management. In 2024 BS, the Groundwater Survey Unit was established under the Department of Water Resources Survey, marking the start of a structured approach to groundwater assessment. This initiative progressed into the Groundwater Resources Survey Development Board in 2026 BS, further enhancing coordination and research efforts. The development continued, leading to the establishment of the Groundwater Resources Development Board in 2031 BS, focusing on comprehensive resource management. The first revision of this board in 2033 BS underscored the need for adaptive strategies in response to emerging challenges in groundwater sustainability, emphasizing the institution's commitment to fostering effective and sustainable groundwater management practices. Initially, the Ground Water Resources Development Board (GWRDB) focused on conducting extensive research on the development and exploration of groundwater resources. The GWRDB conducted assessments in the Terai region to estimate the total amount of groundwater reserves available in the area. As part of this initiative, the GWRDB collaborated with UNDP and USAID to launch basic monitoring programs to observe the groundwater levels and their quality. Water level observations began in 1987 BS as part of a study by Groundwater Development Consultants (GDC) focused on developing irrigation strategies for the Terai region. The monitoring network primarily relied on dug wells, and almost 60 to 70 wells were monitored in each Terai district. After UN project NEP/86/025 was implemented, systematic water level monitoring was initiated. The project entailed the drilling of 433 shallow monitoring wells, which were distributed across all Terai districts. The project involved drilling between 20 and 25 shallow tube wells in each district, with the primary aim of manually collecting monthly water level data. Overall, this monitoring network aimed to provide insightful data on groundwater resources in the Terai region, which would be useful in developing sustainable irrigation strategies in the area. 

Nepal's Terai has an estimated 8,800 MCM of groundwater reserves, based on assessments carried out in the 1970s and 1980s, and abstraction of groundwater from these aquifers has steadily increased with irrigation being the main water user. Electrification, promotion of solar pumps, increasing private investments in diesel pump irrigation and growing industrial water use are progressively increasing the demand for groundwater in Nepal's Terai and localized reports of groundwater depletion have started to surface. Monitoring the water levels of the Terai's aquifers is thus critical to ensure that groundwater development does not deplete the resource beyond sustainable limits. While the responsibilities of groundwater management are currently spread across different governmental bodies, DWRI retains a mandate for groundwater monitoring activities that are to be implemented through its branch offices.

The objective of a groundwater dashboard is to provide a centralized, accessible platform for real-time data collection, storage, and analysis of groundwater resources. It aims to enhance decision-making by offering clear and organized visualization of groundwater levels and usage trends. The dashboard helps prevent over-extraction and ensures the long-term sustainability of aquifers. It integrates groundwater information with other relevant datasets, such as precipitation and land use, to offer a more comprehensive understanding of water resources. Additionally, the dashboard promotes transparency by making data easily accessible to government agencies, researchers, and local communities through user-friendly interfaces. It also ensures the accuracy and security of data through quality control measures, data validation, and secure access protocols. Overall, the dashboard aims to protect and preserve groundwater resources by supporting effective, data-driven decision-making.

The development of the groundwater dashboard is an ongoing process, with the first version designed to provide rapid support and real-time visualization for current data collection efforts. In the background, we are continuously enhancing the dashboard's features based on user feedback and operational experience. We encourage anyone to share their feedback, request new features, or contribute their data or web development expertise to improve the platform further. The monitoring wells used for data collection were initially selected in the 1980s and 1990s through UNDP and USAID-funded groundwater development programs, including large-scale hydrogeologic studies. To modernize data collection, we transitioned from manual methods to using Open Data Kit (ODK) on tablets and phones, allowing water levels to be measured and immediately entered a digital survey form. This data is then sent directly to the cloud for processing and visualization.

Nepal's Terai belongs to the Northernmost section of the Indo-Gangetic Plains that stretch from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Ganges Rivers in the South at around 100 masl. The aquifers thus belong to the Indo-Gangetic Basin alluvial aquifer. General characteristics of the aquifers can, for example, be found in Bonsor et al. (2017). A typical cross section of the Terai aquifer looks like the following (with yellow being coarser sand layers of good aquifer material, Bonsor et al. 2017):



Nepal's Terai aquifers are comprised of alluvial and poorly sorted aquifer material. Several layers of aquifer material are intersected by several layers semi-confining clay layers. Water levels for aquifers range from 0 to 10 mbgl with an average of 4.5 mbgl. The following map has been produced by the GWRDB based on the water level measurements of the GWRDB/UNDP tubewells of 1993: