In Chitwan, Nepal, tourist pools could cause problems for environment and wildlife

CHITWAN, Nepal — Rajendra Ariyal, 45, likes visiting Sauraha, a tourist town on the edge of Nepal's Chitwan National Park. He enjoys mother nature, jungle safaris and the natural beauty of the place. These days, he also likes swimming in the pool.

“Whenever I come to Sauraha with my wife and kids, we always want to stay in a hotel with a pool,” says Ariyal, father of a 10-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. “If you can use an additional facility like a swimming pool without paying extra, why not use it?” Ayal, who claims to be a businessman, told Mongabay in Sauraha on a sunny afternoon in September. Ta. “Whenever I have business-related work in Chitwan, I always bring my family,” he added.

Rajendra Dhami, former president of the Chitwan Guides Association, said that like the Ayars, many Nepali tourists visiting Sauraha on vacation these days want to stay in hotels with pools.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses in the tourist city on the banks of the East Rapti River rely on domestic tourists to sustain their livelihoods during the pandemic years when international travel was severely affected. Now that we've done that, we've realized that domestic tourists are just as important. “That's why they want to attract domestic tourists,” Dhami added.

Local hoteliers estimate that around 70% of Sauraha's hotel bookings are made by domestic tourists. This estimate is also supported by figures from Chitwan National Park, where most of the tourists visiting Sauraha visit. According to park records, of the 190,458 tourists who visited Chitwan in 2023-24, 155,671 (about 81%) were Nepalese. Of the 61,624 tourists who visited the park in 2017-18 (just before the pandemic), 33,645 (about 54%) were Nepalese.

However, the result has been a proliferation of unregulated and unmonitored pools in an ecologically sensitive area that is home to a variety of species of macroinvertebrates, fish, and the iconic gharial crocodile. According to the Chitwan Hotel Association, out of his 140-odd hotels in Sauraha, about 15-16 currently have swimming pools. Association president Ganga Giri said swimming pools cost between 3 million and 150 million rupees ($22,500 to $1.1 million).

A GIS-based study conducted by Mongabay in collaboration with Center for Data Journalism Nepal (CDJN) found that at least 20 hotels and resorts on the banks of the East Rapti River and its tributaries have constructed swimming pools.

Our on-site research revealed that the hotel owner pumps groundwater from the river bank, filters it, and uses it to fill the pool. Next, various chemicals, such as chlorine, are used to protect the pool from microorganisms. “Refilling the pool requires a lot of water and resources, so we don't release water into rivers,” says the National Trust for Nature Conservation's Center for Biodiversity Conservation. says Ram Kumar Ayyal, former director of and owner of Rhino Lodge in Sauraha. . “We have a system in place to filter and recirculate water into the pool,” he added.

Maintenance staff and technicians constructing the pools in Sauraha also told Mongabay that although the pools have drains for draining water, refilling them is expensive, so they do not drain the water until it is absolutely necessary. He said he would not.

Ganga Giri, president of the Chitwan Hotels Association and owner of Park Safari Resort, which recently built a swimming pool on the banks of the Rapti River, agrees with Ariyal. “The water only needs to be released once every two to three years, so it does not pollute the river,” says Giri.

Hotel owners say they rarely flush out all the water in their pools and the chlorine they use is too reactive to make it into the river. But chemicals used in pools could reach rivers, says Rajesh Sada, WWF-Nepal's freshwater program director. “On an individual level, they may be right. The amount of water they release into the river is not large enough to cause damage. But if you look at the total number of pools, which are increasing every year, as a whole and on a larger scale, And I can say that it could be a cause for concern,” he told Mongabay.

Studies have shown that chlorine, which is used to kill microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens in pools, can have deadly consequences. “Freshwater species such as fish and macroinvertebrates, especially those that do not migrate long distances, are likely to be affected by chlorine pollution,” said Jenuin Prajapati, a researcher who studies freshwater species in Nepal.

“Macroinvertebrates are a food source for a variety of fish species found in river systems,” she says. Gharials rely on fish to survive. If a macroinvertebrate dies or ingests contaminated food, it can easily be transmitted to gharials and even larger animals such as rhinos and tigers, she added.

“Rapti is the lifeblood of Chitwan and if something happens to the gharials, even the rhinos and tigers won't survive,” said Bhed Kumar Khadka, a conservationist and former National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department official.

In Nepal, local government oversight mechanisms are weak due to lack of institutional capacity, and companies are often found to be neglecting environmental protection measures. “We don't know if the hotel owners really live up to their word. They may be dumping water into the river without anyone knowing,” said Virendra, a local conservationist. Mahato says.

Chitwan National Park Chief Conservation Officer Dil Bahadur Purja Pun told Mongabay he was unaware of the issue. “At the moment we are not paying attention to this issue. But thank you for asking about it and we will look into it,” he said when contacted by Mongabay.

Various studies have also shown another problem with pools. DBPs (disinfectant byproducts) are not only carcinogenic to humans, but deadly to plants and animals of all shapes and sizes. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DBPs are formed when disinfectants such as chlorine react with natural organic substances in water, such as in chlorinated pools. Organic substances come from swimmers wearing various types of lotions and sunscreens and can form DBPs such as trihalomethanes and halogenated acetic acids. These compounds have been shown to be highly toxic to aquatic life.

However, neither local governments nor hotels have conducted surveys on DBP and its prevalence in swimming pools across Chitwan, which are already grappling with heavy metal contamination.

Subodh Sharma, a freshwater expert at Kathmandu University, said the Rapti River water may already be contaminated with trace amounts of various heavy metals found in pesticides and fertilizers. “Although there is no evidence to support this, we believe that the recent spate of rhino deaths in Chitwan may be due to contamination of both the Sauraha river and groundwater,” he added. Heavy metal pollution has also been reported in some rivers in India.

In it, the hotel owner uses groundwater to fill the pool, raising questions about the quality of the water being used, he added. “There is a good possibility that groundwater from the Rapti River is contaminating the pool,” Sharma added, adding that future studies will look into heavy metal contamination in the Rapti River.

Some industry players monitoring the situation say they believe the proliferation of pools in Chitwan is bringing to the fore a much deeper underlying problem facing Nepal's tourism industry. There is. Marcus Cotton, a tourism entrepreneur who runs Tiger Mountain Hotels and Resorts in Chitwan and Pokhara, says most people in Nepal's tourism industry are generally insightful, understanding and thoughtful about their industry. He says that there is a lack of quality. “The broader issue is that [that] The industry's failure to embrace sustainability in its own interests shows very limited awareness, understanding and commitment.”

The proliferation of swimming pools in Sauraha is an example of the “clone mentality” prevalent among hoteliers, he told Mongabay. Cotton says there's no guarantee that building a pool will automatically grow a hotel's business. “Don't just build a pool and then enthusiastically explain why. If you go to a hotel with a pool, choose disinfection that doesn't include chlorine. With salt, for example, you can tell the story again and Instead of pools, we'll focus on a range of deeper, more immersive (no pun intended!) experiences. Think of a swimming pool in the wild…complete with a complimentary python or cobra.” he told Mongabay in an email interview.

Hotel owners say even the existing pool is not being utilized optimally. Giri, the president of the hotel association, said the pool is only frequented by tourists from India and Nepal, not for a dip but to take selfies. Western tourists don't really care about pools, he told Mongabay.

That begs the question. Why waste so much water and invest resources in environmentally sensitive community pools when their utility value is limited? Mahato asks. “In this national park, the Musahhar and Talos people are not allowed to fish in their rivers, even though that activity would jeopardize the park's lifeline supporting endangered species. “Hotels are also allowed to do whatever they want,” he says.

Nepal's national parks have been hailed as successful examples of helping populations of endangered species such as rhinos and tigers recover, but that success has come at the expense of local indigenous people's rights to resources and traditional livelihoods. critics point out. “Local communities also have limited access to resources, while large corporations and hotels feel they have the access and power to do whatever they want,” Mahato added.

Hotels need to understand that tourists come to Sauraha to see rhinos and tigers, which helps them stay in business, he added. “But if the river gets polluted, there will be no tigers or rhinos and no one will come to Sauraha to carry on business.”

Banner image: A staff member cleans a swimming pool at a hotel in Sauraha, Chitwan province. Image courtesy of Abhaya Raj Joshi/Mongabay

This article was produced in collaboration with Center for Data Journalism Nepal (CDJN) under the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) Fellowship.

Abaya Raj Joshi I am Mongabay's staff writer for Nepal.find him at @arj272.

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