Published on January 8th, 2018 | by Kayak Session

Bhote Koshi, Last Days – « A Love Song »

A love song for a River… The Bhote Koshi will soon be gone. Funnelled into a pipe inside the mountain. Her banks dry. Not to be seen and enjoyed for future generations. This much is true… What’s important? On a human level, that we learn, educate and inspire… To appreciate the beauty, which we already have… Some facts… In Nepal alone there are already 55 hydro electric projects in operation and rivers lost… There are also currently another 20 major and 10 smaller hydro projects in progress… Thank you to all the people I have shared this magnificent place with!
Please share this song… Share your message…
By: George Younger

Photo 1. Upper Bhote Koshi Hydro Project, destroyed in 2016 monsoon rain. Is it sensible to build another dam here?
Photo 2. ‎The Bhote Koshi Valley walls are turned to concrete to stabilise the river flowing through the mountain. The Bhote Koshi valley and Bharabise town were in the epicentre of the devastating 2015 Nepal Earthquake and is an area extremely prone to regular tremors and earthquakes. Is this a safe place to put a dam? Is it right to risk so many lives?
Photo 3. ‎Lower Bhote Koshi sand mining and JCB’s pollute the river to take required construction materials. Is this a place children can play? Would you drink this water?
Photo 4. ‎The Marshyangdi River now runs dry with completion of a major hydro project in 2016. The valley sides turn brown with no water or sediment to feed life. What about the fish? What about farming? What about birds, wildlife, human life?
Photo 5. ‎A Mahakali tributary flows only through a pipe with the completion of a 2017 hydro project. Vast numbers of new hydro projects are blocking off rivers in this way, especially in poor, remote, rural areas in West and East Nepal, out of view of media and society attention. What will indigenous communities do for drinking water, agriculture, fishing, bathing?