Improved water mills

agro-processing is one of the important activities for the farming communities in Nepal. Manually operated, pain staking and vey low efficiency devices like dhiki and janto are the main agro processing devices used by majority of the people in rural Nepal

hydro power, in the form of traditional low power output water mill-pani ghatta, has been in use in Nepal for centuries for grinding purpose. In the mid hills of the country, these traditional water mills, located at the bank of streams and rivers, have been the part of villagers life and are used as an important source of energy. Rural households depend to a large extent on these mills for their daily life.

These rural communities frequently requires food-processing services, in the form of cereal grinding, paddy hulling, oil extraction etc. the availability and reliability of these services to a large extent determine the quality of rural lives. Adequate milling services does not only reduce the burden of carrying loads over a long distance, a task often performed by most female household members, but also stimulate and diversify local agricultural production.

It is estimate that there are more than 25000 traditional water mills in operation throughout the country. Although these traditional water mills have been part of villages for centuries due to its low efficiency, it has been able to meet the increasing processing needs and other energy requirements of the rural communities.

An improved water mill is an intermediate technology based on the principle of existing mills that improves performance as well as reliability of the mills. The improved service quality is transformed into a higher agro-processing capacity or diversified range of services

Also the improved water mill offers the opportunity to generate electricity for local lighting purpose, depending upon the flow of head availability. The technology has been tested extensively over the last two decade and proves appropriate and compatible with the rural environment.

The Improved water mill is a modified version of traditional water mill. It can change the hydropower of falling water into mechanical power. The design and constructional features of certain components of the traditional water mills are improved upon or moderately altered in order to operational efficiency as well as making it more useful with additional machine.

There are two versions of improved water mills

1. The first version is called an improved ghatta
2. The second version is called a multipurpose power unit