BWI launches machine learning-enabled river flow forecasts

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Jan 30: Blue Water Intelligence (BWI)  held an event in Kathmandu to mark the operational deployment of BWI’s hydrological forecasting and early warning services under the HydroNepal Project.

This initiative, launched in February 2025 with support from the French Ministry of Economy, Finance, Industrial and Digital Sovereignty and funded by FASEP with Nepal Electricity Authority as project partner and beneficiary, represents a key collaboration between Nepal and France, read a press release issued by the BWI.

It was as part of the delivery of the Nepal–France Green Road Map. The Blue Water Intelligence marked milestone launch of basin-wide hydrological services across Nepal, along with a panel discussion on water and energy security of Nepal in context of Climate Change.

The event brought together leading figures from Nepal’s water, energy, and research sectors, highlighting a year of technical achievement and partnership. Speakers included Virginie Corteval, Ambassador of France to Nepal, Hitendra Dev Shakya, Managing Director, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Prof. Deepak Aryal, Vice-Chancellor, Tribhuvan University, Inès Routaboul, HydroNepal Project Manager, Blue Water Intelligence (BWI), Dr. Anil Khanal, Hydrologist, Blue Water Intelligence (BWI), Asst. Prof. Dibas Shrestha, Central Department of Hydrology & Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, among others.

HydroNepal Project aims to strengthen hydropower planning and operations, disaster preparedness, and water resource management through integration of Earth observation, artificial intelligence, and hydrological modeling. Following the successful completion of the development phase, river flow forecasting and early warning systems are now operational in the Upper Karnali, Marsyangdi, Trishuli, and Dudh- Koshi basins – and BWI is consequently open for business with private sector, in Nepal, read the press release.

On the occasion, Ambassador Corteval, said that “It is an honour to witness French expertise in hydrological modelling meeting Nepal's dynamic river systems, to drive economic growth and disaster preparedness.” Similarly, BWI’s Hydrologist, Dr. Anil Khanal, remarked that this milestone “illustrates the power of international cooperations and digital innovation to advance Nepal’s water and energy resilience.” He added that BWI is “ready to scale beyond the first four basins and develop new partnerships for data- driven hydropower and river basin management across Nepal.”

The evening concluded with a panel discussion on water, energy, and climate resilience where government agencies, private sector stakeholders, and researchers discussed pathways to use Basin Intelligence technology to address country’s most pressing water-related issues, according to the press release.