Never Ending Problem

With the demand soaring and the supply shrinking, drinking water has become a scarce commodity for Kathmanduites

By THAKUR AMGAI

"Not a single drop of water has dropped from my tap for last more than one month. We are buying water from the tanker for other purposes. But as the quality of tanker water is not good, we are forced to use bottled (mineral) water for drinking purpose. We are facing a great problem this season."

This is what Angur Man Tuladhar, who runs a school in Thamel, had to say about the water shortage in Kathmandu . But his agony is not unique. Virtually every individual in Kathmandu valley is haunted by the problem of water scarcity this season.

With the mercury level soaring up and no rainfall for a couple days, the problem has deteriorated creating an acute shortage of water. While the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) supplies water periodically in most places, hundreds of residents in places such as Thamel, Kalimati, Baphal, Tahachal, Baneshwore, among others, have not got a single drop from their taps for weeks.

"(In some places) we are supplying water once in every four days at present," Dharma Kumar Bajimaya, General Manager of the NDWSC, told Kantipur daily. "If we cannot supply in every four days the consumers will have to wait another four days."

According to NWSC, there is acute shortage of water in Kalimati, Tahachal, Baphal, and Baneshwore.

Because of the lack of rainfall for a couple of weeks and increasing temperature water level in most of the reservoirs of Kathmandu has dropped sharply.

"In some of the sources the water level has dropped by more than 300 per cent," said Madan Shankar Shrestha, of NWSC, who looks after the water supply in Kathmandu valley. The reservoir in Manohara, which supplied 20 Million Liters per Day (MLD) of water now supplies only 4 MLD, said Shrestha.

Likewise, reservoirs like Bode, Sundarijal, Balaju and Mahargunj have severely dropped – by as much as two-third quantity. Although the normal capacity of Bode reservoir is 12 million liters, it is only holding 3 million liters at present. Sundarijal reservoir – which meets half the demand of the valley – has also decreased by one half, said NWSC general manager Dharma Kumar Bajimaya.

The water demand of the Kathmandu Valley residents is 214 MLD whereas the authorities are able to supply just 100 MLD. In many parts of the valley, water comes to the taps only once in four or five days.

To make the problem worse, the demand of water is rising with the internally displaced people migrating to Kathmandu at a larger rate.

NWSC informed that 5,000 new taps are installed every year on average. At the rate of 1000 liters per day the demand of water is about 5 MLD per annum.

There is no authentic and reliable data about the number of residents in Kathmandu valley neither is there any precise estimate about the influx of the population in Kathmandu.

Experts estimate that there could be 2 to 2.5 million floating population in Kathmandu. At present there are about 1,40,000 households as registered users of water.

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.

The problem of water shortage repeats the same way, worsening every year, in Kathmandu.

The multi-million dollar Melamchi project - which is considered as the solution to the water problem of Kathmandu valley residents, is still far away. The project, which was earlier expected to finish by 2010, is bound to prolong because of the various legal hassles it is going through at present.

The chief of the project is under arrest by the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) on charges of corruption. Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and former minister Prakash Man Singh are also under arrest by the RCCC. Both stand accused of irregularities in the project. These actions have led to anxiety among the major donors of the project putting the future of the whole project in jeopardy.

The residents of Kathmandu valley are in urgent need of some short-term plans as well to quench their thirst. Water experts point out at the use of underground water, reduction of leakage and economic use of other water sources such as water spouts as short-term relief measures.

According to Shrestha, up to 40 per cent of the water supplied by NWSC is unbilled implying that most of it is wasted through leakage. Likewise, there is no system of storage in most of the natural and historical water spouts in the Valley. Although, many of the historical water spouts have already dried, it is estimated that there are still about 200 water spouts in the valley.

Shrestha said that although it was possible to give short-term relief to the residents of Kathmandu through ground water, the corporation has not been able to construct new water supply plants because of the lack of funds.

"The construction of one deep boring water plant costs about Rs. 5 million and we need about 30 to 40 plants to give immediate relief to the consumers in dry season," said Shrestha. "We lack the fund for capital investment."