Editorial»
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JUL 04 -
Most localities in Kathmandu get running water once every five days. For a couple of hours. A week-long long wait turns to near despair as the wait is rewarded not by gushing water through their taps, but a thick, black sludge. In fact, in the last three months the ‘black water phenomena’ has been so common in localities like Ghattekulo and Maitidevi that it is no longer even a topic of discussion.
The water woes of Kathmandu residents go way back and have only gotten worse with a steady increase in the valley’s population. The current daily water need of the valley is 320 million litres; the Kathmandu Upatyeka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), the utility tasked with supplying drinking water inside the Valley, is able to supply just 90 million litres a day.
The prolonged dry spell and rising temperatures have made the lives of Kathmandu residents worse. With hardly enough water to drink, people are forced to expend less on washing and cleaning purposes. Many valley residents supplement their supply with groundwater. Though often unfit for drinking, underground water is extensively used for secondary purposes. But even the seemingly endless stock of groundwater might soon run dry; the valley’s water table is decreasing by 2.5 million litres a year.
The problem is systemic. It is not just that the sources of water inside the valley are drying up and the big water projects have failed to materialise. If the century-old water pipes KUKL brings to use could be replaced, the utility would be able to save 34 million litres which is being lost due to leakages every day. That would also solve the problem of leakage of sewerage into the rusty old drinking water pipes. But KUKL simply lacks the resources to replace the old pipes.
The Melamchi Project, which was supposed to tide over the enormous water needs of the Valley—with an estimated supply of up to 510 million litres a day—has been a mare’s nest for valley residents, the completion of the much-vaunted project inordinately delayed for political reasons. KUKL had last year started the ‘Pre-Melamchi Project’ which was projected to to add around 55 million litres of water to its supply, but it too has been bedevilled by lack of funds.
By the looks of things, Kathmandu’s water problems are unlikely to be solved unless the country’s political mess is first sorted out. Right now, the bureaucrats involved in just about any government project find it all too easy to mask their deficiencies by blaming the chaotic political scene and lack of funds.
Amidst gloomy reports in the media that Kathmandu might have to face a similar level of water shortage for up to 15 years, people like Sita Phuyal of Koteshwor, who is among those whose house taps routinely discharge the smelly, black liquid will continue to suffer the consequences of her priorities not overlapping those of the government. But how is Phuyal meeting her daily drinking water needs? Every day, she queues for up to three-quarters of an hour outside the KUKL office at Baneshwor for a bucketful of the liquid gold.
Posted on: 2010-07-05 08:32
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