Proceso de coordinación

Central place theory describes the arrangements, size and number of settlements which provide the services for the people living around them (Daniels, 2007; Getis & Getis, 1966). Central place theory is used here to help understand the views and characteristics of users who collect water in a location in their home range, the central place. Users are very selective when choosing spouts that are not far from their house, and located in a central place since they have to spend time and energy carrying water back to their house. This section describes the distances travelled by users to obtain water from the spouts and why they prefer particular spouts.

As described in section 5.4 and Table 5.4 all respondents during convenience sampling identified a range of factors such as control of access to other water sources, cultural, utility and amenity factors such as taste, freshness and other quality related water factors that potentially motivate them to collect water from stone spouts at various distances.

The study areas, except Bhaktapur Durbar Square and Madhyapur Thimi as they are similar, are reported separately because there is a large difference in the numbers and density of stone spouts and people living in each area. In comparison to peri-urban areas, the majority of spouts in the urban areas, Bhaktapur and Madyapur Thimi, are found within or in the vicinity of settlements and also have a high density of spouts themselves and people living there. Generally, people also do not need to go far to collect water from spouts in these latter areas.

Three female respondents during two focus group discussions in Changunarayan area stated that most of the time they go to Gah and Gamdhoka hiti (which less than or equal to around 100 metres from their houses) and in winter sometimes they go to Narayan and Sarashwoti hiti when water does not come from these spouts. Moreover, three female respondents admitted that they came to spouts from more than 100 metres because they liked the taste of the water. Five (two male and three female) local respondents in face-to-face interviews and seven (four male and three female) during three focus group discussions stated that they use spouts more than 100 metres away while performing their funeral rituals.

Likewise, five female and two male respondents in face-to-face interviews and 11 respondents (eight female and three male) during three focus group discussions in Jhaukhel reported that

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they have always experienced water scarcity in winter. So, they are used to travelling more than 100 metres to collect water. According to them, the people of Dhimal gaun and the Dahal gaun used to go wherever necessary to find water. Nowadays, when some of the pipelines do not work, they have to travel more than 100 metres to collect water from the spouts. Likewise, most respondents explained that people from Bhaktapur city travel a distance up to four km to take water from the Taleju temple once a year.

Similarly, most respondents in the Madhyapur Thimi and Bhaktapur Durbar Square areas stated that most Newar settlements have stone spouts near to their houses, often less than 100 meters away. Six (three female and three male) respondents explained that when the pipeline system does not function in Bode and Nagadesh, people walk about 1 km to Bata hiti to collect water. Five respondents (three male and two female) in Madhyapur Thimi explained that they come to collect water from Nhu hiti and Sulecha hiti from more than 100 metres because they like the taste of the water. Most participants stated that several temporary residents travel further than 100 metres to spouts for washing and bathing purposes. According to these frequent users, spouts are more crowded on a Saturday. People from far distances also come for bathing and washing purposes on that day. One respondent related that the water flow was large in all three Tin dhara spouts in bygone days. So, people from far away (about two kilometres) used to come there to collect drinking water, bathe and wash clothes.

Five female respondents during focus group discussions explained that they always collect water from their own vicinity, less than 100 metres away. According to them, the people living in other localities do not allow them to collect water. Most respondents in all study areas said that the majority of spouts are located within the immediate vicinity of inhabitants. The spouts located outside the settlements are constructed to serve water for travellers, laundry persons, pilgrims or for irrigation of pasture or gardens. According to respondents, they sometimes go to spouts further away if there are more people using their local spout and they need to stay longer in a queue. One female respondent during convenience sampling in the Madhyapur Thimi area reported that:

Nhu hiti is nearer to my house but there are more people in there now. So, I have to queue up. There is few people in Debama hiti. So, I come here.

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Likewise, most respondents during convenience sampling in all study areas except Changunarayan reported that in winter they travelled around or more than 100 metres to collect water from spouts (Figure 7.1). Howevere, this information collected from convenience sampling may or may not represent opinions of all respondents. According to these respondents, in winter, many pipe-line taps are rendered temporarily out of service and most spouts nearby their houses also have poor water flow. So, most spouts are always crowded and people go far away to wherever they can get water easily. They said that sometimes they walk more than one km to fetch water from spouts. According to reports there are more people in the morning than in the evening at the spouts. So it takes more time in the morning to collect water. Sometimes they queue for 3-4 hours before collection during winter. However, in summer (in rainy season), they said water flow in spouts and in pipe-lines increases. So, they do not need to travel far to collect water. In the context of Changunarayan, most respondents in Changu hill said that pipe-line has been connected into the Gah and Gamdhoka hiti. So, they do not need to travel far to collect water. Likewise, most respondents in Kapa hiti, Narayan hiti and Sarashowti hiti areas said that they live nearby spouts which have good water flow. So, they also do not need to travel far.

Figure 7.1: Distances travelled by convenience sampled respondents collecting water from more or less than 100 meters from stone spouts during winter.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Changunarayan Jhaukhel Bhaktapur Durbar Square Madhyapur Thimi

Heritage Non-heritage Heritage Non-heritage

Peri-urban Urban

Respondents Collecting water ≤ 100 metres Respondents Collecting water ≥ 100 metres

R e s p o n d e n t N u m b e r

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7. 6 Summary

Four theories were applied to thinking about people and their relationship to stone spouts and their management. There are clear insights come from this theory analysis. Investigations indicate that due to the absence of ownership responsibility stone spouts are gradually drying up and the infrastructure and decorations are decaying. The institutional analysis then reinforces this view by showing that Government and non-government organisations including Nepal Guthi Corporation and the community itself are also apathetic and ineffective in conservation of spouts. By contrast, the analysis of attachment theory surprisingly showed that there was a relatively high degree of attachment both amongst the old people and even amongst some young people. This was then reinforced by the final examination of central place theory which indicates that indeed stone spouts are important for people for utilitarian and other reasons. From the utilitarian point of view they are important because during winter in three of the four study areas they provide alternative supplies of water when water supply from the modern pipe-line system is unavailable due to power cuts or for other reasons. Likewise, the existence of operational spouts also help to conserve local culture. In the next chapter these four theories will be analysed against the findings from both the bio-physical research (chapter five) and from qualitative interviews (chapter six and seven).

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Chapter 8