Does this mean that Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), the sole body responsible to distribute water to valley denizens, supplies more water to them?
Tilak Mohan Bhandari, deputy manager of KUKL, refutes the allegation outright. He says, “We do not discriminate against our clients.”
If so, how do colonies, apartment, and hotels get ample water even during dry seasons?
Santosh Chhetri, engineering supervisor of Soaltee Crowne Plaza, says, “We have our own source of water.”
According to him, Soaltee extracts almost one million liters of water every day by using a deep boring pump and a treatment plant.
Not only Soaltee, all star hotels, industries and housing colonies rely on ground water.
Of late, well-off families in Kathmandu have also started using deep boring pumps. Extraction of ground water for commercial purpose is rampant in the Valley owing to lack of strict rules and regulations.
KUKL itself is indulged in extracting ground water. It extracts 20 to 30 million liters of water every day.
“In the beginning, we used to extract 90 million liters of water a day,” says Bhandari, “We soon realized that it could result in land subsidence and we reduced our dependency on ground water.”
KUKL´s predecessor Nepal Water Supply Corporation started using ground water in 1983.
At present, KUKL has set up deep boring pumps in 75 places in and around the Valley. Of them, only 40 pumps function regularly.
Despite KUKL´s effort to lessen the dependency, ground water level has alarmingly gone down by 20 meters, according to experts.
Depletion of ground water has caused panic among hydro-geologists.
“Though no sign of land subsidence has been observed so far, depleting groundwater level could trigger a disaster in near future if we do not stop it right now,” says Nir Shakya, senior hydro-geologist at Ground Water Resources Development Committee.
According to Shakya, stone spouts in Balaju dried up twice in the past because of excessive exploitation of groundwater by nearby factories.
“What happened in Balaju is just an ominous prelude of a tragic show,” Shakya says.
Hydro-geologists have divided Kathmandu valley into three distinctive parts based on its geographical structure. Unlike in the northern and southern parts where sand and gravel are major ingredients in formation of layers of land, the central part consists of impermeable thick black clay of about 200 meters on the top. Ground water does not get replenished quickly in this part.
“It takes decades to replenish,” says Shakya, “This is why we call it fossil water.”
Rapid yet unplanned urbanization has further worsened the problem by wiping out open spaces. “There is not enough open space in this area for rain water to percolate into the ground,” he says, “Everywhere, there are roads and high rises.”
In Kathmandu district alone, 56 housing colonies and apartments have been built. Most of them are located inside the Ring Road. The water source for these colonies and apartments is fossils water.
Extracting fossil water has already resulted in catastrophes in other countries.
In Mexico, highways, colonial monuments and drains have subsided. A number of cities in China and India are also on the verge of subsidence. Many countries have already outlawed extracting ground water. However, Nepal has not taken any initiative in this direction.
Related story
Water, water everywhere but no water to drink!
