Not A Drop To Drink
After the tradition nearly became extinct, native Newari residents of Kathmandu Valley have started remembering Sithi festival – a festival dedicated for water conservation. When all of their options failed to bring enough water, the residents who are forced to spend a huge portion of their income on drinking water have turned to their tradition to conserve water. From buying a high-powered water pumps to extracting water from ground sources, valley’s residents have already invested huge amount of money but not all of them are lucky enough to have adequate water. Following the involvement of Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC), the future of Melamchi, a mega drinking water project, is now virtually uncertain. As the population is swelling with the average increase of over 6 percent – highest in the country – in the valley, water scarcity is looming larger and larger
By KESHAB POUDEL
Fed up with the irregular supply of drinking water and having to pay a lot of money to buy water, Babulal Maharjan, 38, a resident of Chyasal, has decided to turn to his traditional way of water conservation. Maharjan along with other two dozen youths of Prayag Pokhari, Lalitpur district, gathered for water conservation on Sithi Nakha, Monday (June 13) – a traditional festival dedicated to clean wells and to pray for uninterrupted water in stone spouts and wells. When the water level continues to shrink because of over extraction, nobody is certain whether Maharjan’s inclination will pay off and the stone spouts continue to provide enough water.
“We have seen all the different kinds of rulers – Panchayat, Democratic and Monarchical but nobody has shown any sensitivity towards adequate drinking water supply. Finally, we have turned to Gods and Serpents as our last refuge following the traditional practice,” said Maharjan – whose water demand has grown by more than ten times compared to two decades ago.
Maharjan is not alone to rely on waterspouts and wells. A large number of people in the valley now depend on the extraction of the ground water. Along with a registered government tap, every household has different alternatives. In the old cities, stone spouts continue to be primary sources of drinking water. In newly developed localities, people extract water from ground sources through wells, tube-wells and deep-tube wells ranging between 20 to 100 feet depth.
P eople extract a large volume of ground water but the process of recharge is very slow since most of the rainwater is released to river through sewage within a very short period of time. Many wells and stone spouts have already dried up thanks to slow process of recharge. The water level in all areas in the valley goes down from March to June.
Maharjan and his colleagues, however, believe that their well will be recharged after cleaning and worshiping the Rain Gods and Serpent Gods.
Like in Patan, thousands of other wells in Bhaktapur and Kathmandu were cleaned on Monday and people worshipped the rain god demanding the adequate water supply in their wells. “Traditionally, this is a good way to generate the awareness among the people about the need for water conservation,” said Satya Mohan Joshi, a renowned culture expert and a member of Royal Nepal Academy . “The people of valley have their own way of water conservation.”
Time Consuming
Collection of water has become one of the most irritating and time-consuming tasks for the valley residents. In almost all households, a family member has to spend at least an hour to accumulate water in the underground tank and then pump them to other floors.
Sundar Gurung, a resident of Koteshwore wakes up at 3 in the morning. If he does not wake up in time, he would not get drinking water. His daily chore begins by operating 2 horse powered water pump as he needs to suck water from government pipe about 100 meters away from his residence. Despite all his efforts, getting water is still difficult. “If I am late by even a few minutes, other people will have already sucked up the water and my tap will be empty.”
All the residents of Koteshwore, Baneshwore, Thamel and other interior areas have similar problems. The sounds of the water pumps break the stillness of wee hours of the morning in these places on the days of water distribution. “The dictum of Might is Right holds true here. If you don’t have high powered pump set, your tap will go dry,” said Surendra Khanal, a resident of Baneshwore.
This is not a unique character of residents of these places but universal phenomenon of almost all the localities of the valley. Over ninety-percent registered tap owners use one or other kinds of pump sets to suck the water making the cost of drinking water higher.
Despite the efforts of Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC), there are still disparities in water supply. In Chundevi, Maharajgunj and north of Royal Palace areas, there is abundance of water supply. In some areas, people do not get even a drop of water as the pipe virtually dries up for months. Interestingly, those who do not get water have also to pay much higher tariffs than those who regularly get it. According to a regulation of NWSC, Rs.500 is minimum for those whose meter does not operate.
As there has been little rainfall in the last two months and temperature has gone up, the water levels in most of the reservoirs of Kathmandu valley have shrunk. “We have experienced drastic reduction of the water level in some sources by up to 300 percent,” said Dharma Kumar Bajimaya, general manager of Nepal Water Supply Corporation. The Manohara Reservoirs – which is 8 kilometers east of Kathmandu – is now supplying 4 million litters per day compared to its supply capacity of 20 million litters per day. The water supply capacity of Bode’s Reservoir, 10 kilometers of east of capital, has gone down to 3 million liters a day from 12 million liter capacity. The situation is similar in Sundarijal reservoirs; 8 kilometer north of capital.
According to NWSC, the current demand of drinking water in Kathmandu valley is about 190 million liters per day (MLD) but they supply only 90 MLD. At present there are about 1,40,000 households as registered users of water in the valley. NWSC installs average of 5000 new taps every year. At the rate of 1000 MLD, there need additional 5 MLD per annum.
With the support from different agencies including JICA, many steps have already been taken to improve the supply situation. NWSC on its own resources has also constructed new projects and some old projects are renovated. As the population pressure is growing higher, the demand of water is rising.
With its 17 service reservoirs and overhead tanks including major ones in Sundarijal and Pharping, Balaju and Sainbu, NWSC has been supplying the water. As the distribution network is getting older, there are frequent cases of leaks and burst. According to NWSC, around 40 percent of water is wasted due to the leakage.
Despite availability of abundant waters in a country known for huge amount water resources, a large number of valley’s residents are still waiting to quench their growing thirst.
Melamchi Tragedy
Conceived nearly two decades ago, Melamchi Drinking Water Project has suffered several setback before it was finally prepared for execution. Late King Birendra’s two important visions were to implement Arun III hydro power project and Melamchi Drinking Water Project.
As Arun III hydro Power Project was aborted thanks to the so-called nationalist government led by CPN-UML and opposition from environmental NGOs, Melamchi appears moving in the same direction. Although efforts were made to cancel Melamchi project but it has survived for a long period of time. The project continued despite opposition from NGOs and then the Maoists disturbed it for a couple of years. When the project was actually in the position of taking off the Royal Commission for Corruption Control intervened putting it in jeopardy.
Like Arun, the Melamchi river’s water source lies in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. Yangri and Larke two major rivers that feed Melamchi originate in China .
Although there are many pros and cons of huge projects like Melamchi , Nepal has spent more than a decade on it. As valley receives huge rainfall during the monsoon and winter, rainwater conservation may be another alternative. However, give the huge and rapidly growing population, the valley will have no better alternative than constructing big projects like Melamchi for uninterrupted water supply.
Initially, the project was proposed to be completed by 2005 with the total capacity of 170 MLD. Thanks to the complication and delay, it is now expected to compete by 2010. Since the RCCC has just began its investigation suspending all senior officials of the project, its target will be now become uncertain.
Funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Norwegian Agency for International Development, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Nordic Development Fund and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the total cost of project is estimated to be around 464 million US dollars. The earlier cost of project was US$ 272 million.
Uncertain about the future of much-trumpeted Melamchi and seeing no immediate solution to their drinking water woes, the people of valley have suddenly remembered their traditional way of water conservation.
Fed up by the acute scarcity of water, the valley’s residents are now planning to follow their traditional way for water conservation. With the recent increase in the water tariff, the overall cost of drinking water including electricity tariff has gone up much higher.
The Melamchi Water Supply Project consists of a scheme to bring water into the Kathmandu valley in three phases from the catchments of the Melamchi, Yangri and Larke rivers through one long 28 km and later two shorter tunnels. Three phases would provide water supply capacities of 170 MLD, 340 MLD and 600 MLD. The minimum size of tunnel will allow about 600 MLD capacity immediately satisfying water supply demand in Kathmandu valley up to year 2012. The tunnel length is partly dictated by attaining sufficient elevation at the intake on the Melamchi to allow 15 MW hydropower station to be developed at the discharge of the water from the tunnel into the Kathmandu Valley .
Although the project was virtually on the process of cancellation during the period of first Nepali Congress government, it was revived by three party coalition government in 1996 requesting the Asian Development Bank to lead the project.
Some groups hold the view that Melamchi is no more than a dream project as it has such a long tunnel, which requires huge investment for annual maintenance. They argue that the current demand of the valley can be easily fulfilled by just harvesting the rainwater.
What Next?
In case of cancellation of Melamchi or its suspension, the valley will no more have any major project in hand. Construction of smaller projects may satisfy the need of small segments of population. But a metropolis like Kathmandu , such small scale projects cannot suffice.
It is a fact that Katmandu valley receives adequate rain during monsoon but the problem is that there are no places to store rainwater in the valley. As the value of the land goes up, it is economically very expensive to buy the public land to store the water.
Many households in the capital city have also started personally storing the rainwater and there is growing awareness about the need for water conservation. As the societies modernize, the demands of water go up.
For the short term, the local resources need to be tapped and rainwater harvesting promoted. At the same time efforts must be geared up to bring the snow-fed river in the valley from Melamchi for long-term solution of the problem.
