By Surendra Phuyal
KATHMANDU, April 7 : It is not just the potable drinking water supplied to the residents of the capital city that has been found polluted or contaminated for drinking purpose. Now, with the rivers flowing from the heart or periphery of such large cities like Kathmandu, Bharatpur and Birgunj continually exposed to human and industrial activities, groundwater aquifers in these cities, too, are becoming polluted.
Haphazard and unplanned urbanisation, thanks largely to uncontrolled growth in the human population, combined together with the increasing industrial activities, is posing a serious threat to the ecosystems of such pristine rivers as the Bagmati, the Narayani and the Sirsiya, experts said here Sunday citing recent studies.
Equally threatened are the lakes like the Phewa. Situated in the heart of the picturesque city of Pokhara in western Nepal. The Phewa Lake traditionally serves as a dumping ground for not only liquid but also solid wastes discharged by the city’s industries and residents.
More alarmingly, the recent phenomenon is beginning to take its toll also on the cities’ diminishing groundwater resources. Recent studies have shown that even the ground water aquifers—both shallow and deep—are contaminated with toxic chemicals like ammonia and nitrates, according to Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha, an expert with the Environment and Public Health Organisation (ENPHO).
“The trend is increasing, and the septic tanks and sewer drains that the city authorities and the people unscrupulously discharge into the rivers are the chief culprits,” he said. According to him, the load of pollution in the rivers (like the Bagmati and the Narayani) increased by between six to ten times in the past one decade period.
At stake is not just the sources of drinking water of the hundreds of thousands of people, but also the health of these people and the biodiversity that thrive in the periphery of these rivers or lakes, according to experts.
Experts and officials participating at a panel discussion on “urban water pollution: issues and control measures” here on Sunday called for efforts to enforce or implement existing the laws that discourage such practices and action- or master-plans that envision better-planned cities.
For instance, “a master-plan was drawn up a few years ago to develop Kathmandu in a planned and integrated way, but it was never implemented,” conceded Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel, the Secretary at the Ministry of Housing and physical Planning.
The list of such master- or action-plans currently gathering dusts in the officialdom is long, if the officials’ statements are anything.
Apparently a result of the non-enforcement or non-implementation, the officials said, the problem is turning from bad to worse in such large cities like Kathmandu, Narayanghat (Bharatpur), Pokhara and Birgunj, while dozens of other smaller towns around the country, are heading for the public health crisis.
While the problem is gradually becoming chronic in the Narayani river near Narayanghat, in the Sirsiya river near Birgunj and in the Phewa Lake in Pokhara, the officials admitted that it is already worse in Kathmandu Valley, where the Bagmati and its smaller tributaries have literally turned into open sewers.
“Much like the industries, the Valley (of nearly 2 million) residents have a tendency to discharge their sewers or septic tank wastes into the nearby rivers,” said Dr. “Though an irrational one, the tendency is unabated and unchecked.”
According to Janak Raj Joshi, a Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE), out of the 4,271 industrial establishments around the country, 72 percent are concentrated in the capital city. Most of them discharge untreated water into the river.
However, the existing laws—such as the Environment Protection Act and the Environment Protection Regulations of 2053/54 BS, Water Resources Act 2049, Drinking Water Regulations 2055—bar the city residents and industries from discharging untreated sewage drains into the river.
So stringent are the legal provisions that the Environment Protection Act provides for the closure of industries that discharge untreated effluent into the river. “But we have not been able to enforce it,” admitted MOPE Joint Secretary Joshi.
There is more. An action-plan was prepared by an Australian firm to construct storm water drains in the capital city a few years ago, said Secretary Pyakurel, but it was never implemented and is gathering dust. “If we can enforce the laws and implement the plans we have, then bulk of the problem would be resolved in a few years,” he added.
The problem of potable drinking water contamination, in the capital city is a different story altogether.
Kaushal Nath Bhattarai, the General Manager at the Nepal Drinking Water Supply Corporation (NWSC), the state-owned water utility, said the capital’s over-a-century-old water supply network needs to be rehabilitated at the earliest. “The pipelines in the core areas of the capital are full of cracks and leaks, and hence can break at any time, triggering a serious epidemic,” he warned.