Cover Story (Spotlight Weekly)

The Rising Thirst

Collecting water from tankers : Desperate situation

Valley residents are reeling under the same old problem of acute scarcity of drinking water that lies unresolved for the last many years. As taps go dry and water is rationed, valley residents rue that this issue of their topmost concern is yet to get the attention is really deserves. While the country is caught in political crisis, the day-to-day problems of the people have been pushed out of priority. The long queue of people at the public taps and water tankers has become common sight. Worse, there is no hope that this problem will get resolved anytime soon. As the ambitious Melamchi water project is still far away and debates on privatization of water supply lingers on, the authorities need to develop short term plans to quench the thirst of parched people

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

A big gathering of demonstrators is rallying in Bagbazar area demanding for political change. Just a few hundred meters away, in Naxal, a different type of mob gathers. This crowd, instead of carrying slogan-boards, comes out with buckets in their hands. They run towards a water-tanker to fill up their empty vessels with precious drops of drinking water.

Jeevan Shrestha of New Baneshwore has a different story to tell. His primary worry these days is not regression or progression but will the water drop from his tap that day? Tens of thousands of citizens of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) share his woes.

The story every dry season beginning from March till July is the same. People drop everything in their hand to concentrate on how to collect few buckets of water so that they do not have to go thirsty. Serpentine queues at the public taps, stone spouts and water tankers are commonplace. More than the citizens living in the outskirts, those in the core area of the city are hard pressed.

There are places in the valley where water comes to taps once in a week. Taps go dry as the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) supplies water in phases with residents receiving water in alternate days. Compared to their demands of 190 millions liters of water daily (MLD), the valley residents only get about 90 MLD during these months.

Dozens of tankers are mobilized by the NWSC during these dry months to distribute water to thirsty people. Even the scores of traditional stone waterspouts in the valley are crowded with people. People have started installing electric water pumps to extract water from their supply pipes as they do not get sufficient quantity of water. The story of water scarcity is at least one decade old.

Growing Pressure

The Kathmandu Valley is home to around 1.6 million people. Its population is growing at the rate of over 5 percent. In the past few years, hundreds of thousands of people from the remote villages have been displaced thanks to conflict. A recent report states that two to three hundred thousand people might have been internally displaced due to the Maoist conflict.

Running for water : Unquenched thirst

A large number of displaced people come to cities like Kathmandu putting more strain on the grossly inadequate urban infrastructure including drinking water. With the rapid growth of urbanization and expansion of population in the capital valley, there has been tremendous strain on the infrastructure.

The NWSC is responsible for the drinking water distribution in 23 urban areas outside the valley and in 5 municipalities within the valley, it is responsible for drinking water distribution as well as drainage system.

“The total demand of Kathmandu valley is 190 million liters of water daily (MLD) at present. It is rising with the pace of urbanization and population growth. Whereas, the supply capacity is abysmal. In the wet season we can supply up to 130 MLD which again falls to 90 MLD in dry season,” said Kaushal Nath Bhattarai, general manager of the NWSC.

The tremendous shortfall of 100 MLD in dry season exposes how serious the scarcity is. In the year 2002, the production capacity of NWSC inside the Kathmandu valley was 132 MLD whereas its average daily production was 112 MLD. There are more than one hundred thousand water connections (household connections) in the valley, covering over 60 percent of the total residents.

The NWSC has 17 service reservoirs and overhead tanks including the major ones in Sundarijal, Pharping, Balaju and Sainbu. There are 15 treatment plants and 74 pumping stations. More than a dozen tankers ferry water to shortage-hit localities like New Road, Khichapokhari, Tripureshwore, Bhotahity, Bhotebahal, Maitidevi, Baneshwore, Koteshwore and so on.

On the other hand, the distribution network of the NWSC too is getting old and shabby. The distribution network is very old at some places it needs urgent replacement as it suffers from frequent leaks and bursts. Around 40 percent of water is wasted due to leakages.

According to the United Nations, over one billion people in the world still lack access to safe drinking water and about 2.4 billion are without adequate sanitation. In Nepal, over 40 percent population still lack access to drinking water and over 70 percent are denied safe drinking water.

Melamchi Dream

The multi million dollar Melamchi Drinking Water Project has been promised as the solution to the woes of thirsty Kathmanduites. But due to various internal reasons including issues of security, the project is expected to delay. “At the earliest, it could be ready only by 2010,” said a water expert.

The Melamchi is the largest drinking water project in the history of the country. With the objective of supplying adequate drinking water to the residents of capital valley, the Melamchi project has been in the offing for the last one decade.

In the last one decade politicians pointed to Melamchi every time people raised the issue of water shortage. Various donors have committed to finance the 464 million US dollars Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Nordic Development Fund (NDF) and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The MWSP is an inter basin water supply project which supplies water from snow fed Melamchi river in Sindupalchowk district to the Kathmandu valley. The Project is designed to solve the chronic water supply shortage in the Kathmandu Valley with the diversion of 170 MLD water from the Melamchi River through a 26-km long tunnel in its first phase.

“Important thing is that we have to prepare ourselves for the Melamchi project. Once the water from Melamchi enters our system, we could have to face several challenges if we are not prepared,” said Noor Kumar Tamrakar, executive secretary at the Kathmandu Valley Water Management Support Project (KVWMSP), which is helping the government to restructure its water utility institutions and be prepared for Melamchi.

Short-term Succor

Overhead tank in Minbhawan : Will it provide relief ?

While Melamchi is necessary, most people are already beginning to feel much distressed due to persistent lack of water. “We need short-term relief as well,” said Shrestha.

Besides, by the time Melamchi completes, the demand of water in the capital valley will have risen to 260 MLD.

In order to quench the thirst of the people in the short-term and before Melamchi, the NWSC is constructing Manohara water project, which is about to complete. The project is expected to provide additional 20.6 million liters of water daily (MLD) to the main supply.

Modern and huge elevated tanks have been constructed in Minbhawan and Anamnagar, where the water from Manohara will be supplied through trunk pipes.

According to Bhattarai, the additional water will be particularly helpful as it will provide relief to those 2,22,000 residents of Kathmandu who have to suffer the scarcity most like in Baneshwore, Koteshwore, Sankhamul etc. This project could begin as early as May this year, according to some officials.

He also said that the utility of Manohara project will not diminish even after Melamchi becomes operational. “In 2010, our water demand will have shot up to 260 MLD so apart from 170 MLD from Melamchi, we will always need the existing supply to meet the demand. This is where the long-term utility of projects like Manohara can be justified.”

Apart from Manohara, NWSC is developing short term and mid term projects like surface water sources (10 MLD0, ground water extraction (10 MLD), Sainbu water project 10 MLD), Balkhu (4 MLD) and Sundarijal and Balaju (10 MLD) to increase its supply. Some of these projects are already complete whereas others are in the process of implementation. The NWSC is engaged in repair of leaks and maintenance of reservoirs, which will also help in the production capacity.

WATER MANAGEMENT
Groundwork Begins

A project is working to enable the city to cope with the challenges that it will need to face once Melamchi completes and to improve existing service levels by then

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

When the multi-million dollar Melamchi water project completes and begins supplying water to Kathmandu valley in 2009/10 (if everything goes according to plan), it will add tremendous pressure on the almost dilapidated distribution network.

A queue in public water spout : When will it end ?

While at present the valley distribution network handles 90-120 million liters a day (MLD) of water, the Melamchi project alone will supply additional 170 MLD of water. Quite clearly, the authorities need to upgrade physical facilities as well as undergo institutional reforms in order to be able to handle the challenges.

The Kathmandu Valley Water Management Support Project (KVWMSP) was, thus, set up in September 2003 to ensure that the transition is smooth. The project is currently active in preparing the government bodies to face the challenge and is, therefore, preparing the system when Melamchi is commissioned as well as improving the system before that.

“There have to be extensive improvements in the existing distribution network, which, in turn, demands a comprehensive restructuring of the institutions,” said Geoff Bridges, a team leader and water sector management and policy specialist at the KVWMSP, which is functioning under the assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The government has agreed to restructure the water supply institutions. Under the plan, the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) will be restructured and three new entities will be established in Kathmandu Valley including a Water Authority (WA), a Water Utility Operator (WUO) and National Water Supply Regulatory Board (NWSRB).

The water authority will be established under an Act and will act as the asset owner of water supply and wastewater service facilities, and be responsible for developing and overseeing service policies. The WUO, under the license from WA, will be responsible for operating and managing the water supply and wastewater systems. The WUO will be set up under a company act. The employees from the NWSC will be deputed to work at the WUO. The structure and management of NWSC outside the Kathmandu Valley, however, will remain largely unchanged.

The NWSRB, however, will act as an independent regulatory body that will regulate tariff and monitor other policies. This will be set up under a different Act.

The KVWMSP is working to help the government in this restructuring. The two separate ordinances are being prepared for the purpose and they are expected to be approved by mid-July this year. “And all three of these public sector organizations will be ready within November this year,” said Bridges.

The KVWMSP is also working to get the performance-based management contract (MC) signed between the WA and a credible international operator organization. “This is not going to be privatization as is popularly perceived. Rather, we want to engage private sector expertise and experience to improve the water supply system here working through public sector entities and existing staff,” added Bridges.

The new management will be selected on contract based on certain conditions that are linked with their performance. Apart from requiring expertise in different sectors like water treatment, quality control, leakage control and so on, their performance will be measured in terms of hours of supply, water quality, pro-poor service and sewage treatment. The MC will receive a fixed fee plus performance-based payments to undertake its work. Initially, they will be invited for four years. The MC will start functioning from January 2005.

“At present, 40 percent of water is unaccounted for - that is 40 percent of water is being wasted. We hope with these reforms, we can bring down the level of leakage, among other things, to reasonable limit,” said Noor Kumar Tamrakar, executive secretary at the KVWMSC. “Our project has two objectives; one is to improve the service level before Melamchi is commissioned and the other is to prepare a system to face challenges that will be found after Melamchi is commissioned,” he added.

Along with the restructuring, there will also be around 15 percent increase in tariff beginning from the middle of this year. “Fortunately, over two-thirds of the present consumers need not pay more than what they are paying now even after the increase in tariff because the increment will be based on consumption and the majority of connections still consume less than 10 cu.m of water a month, which is a minimum limit,” said Rabindra Man Shrestha, deputy team leader and municipal engineer at the project.

Likewise, the project is also working to improve the metering and billing system to encourage consumers to switch to metered connections. This program will encourage consumers to reduce water wastage and conserve it. The reduction in water use will allow excess water to be supplied to water starved areas and to increase the hours of supply.