Free water for few

Thusday, 25 February 2010
Kathmandu: Every day, 30 million litres of water meant for millions of Kathmandu Valley denizens virtually vanishes along a 4.5-km trunk line. The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), the utility tasked with the supply of drinking water in the valley, says only 60 million litres out of 90 million litres of water fed from the water processing plant in Sundarijal reaches its Mahankal reservoir.
 The rest goes to select households along the Sundarijal-Mahankal stretch, which have pipelines connected directly with the trunk line. Ironically, the households, which have no water meters attached to pipes, get so much water without having to pay a penny, while the consumers with meters installed face an acute shortage. In its attempt to control this misuse albeit temporarily, the water utility plans to distribute 15,000 water meters in a couple of weeks.


“Consumers along the Sundarijal-Mahankal stretch get water once the Sundarijal plant feeds water into the trunk line,” says Rameshwar Lal Shrestha, the KUKL spokesperson. When the pipelines were laid four decades ago, the area had a handful of houses, according to Shrestha. With the insurgency, many people migrated to the area and started tapping water like others, says the KUKL official. “Due to a surging local population, consumers living in other parts of the valley are feeling the pinch. We have begun supplying water on alternate days to curb misuse.”


Shrestha believes people facing an acute shortage of water will heave a sigh of relief with the installation of water meters to each household in the area. “People themselves will economize on the use of water if they are charged as per meter reading.” But this is a stopgap measure, argues Shrestha. Putting in place a new water distribution system is the long-term solution, Shrestha concludes.
(Source: The Kathmandu Post, February 21, 2010)