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.

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

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.