Some time ago we had noted with alarm how around 2.7 million people across 21 earthquake-affected districts are being forced to live in drought-like conditions. According to the Department of Water Supply and Sewage, 3,067 water sources in 14 most-affected districts were completely damaged, while 4,836 other water sources sustained partial damages from last year’s earthquakes. But it is not just quake-hit districts that are facing an acute shortage of drinking water. According to government sources, 85 percent Nepalis now have access to potable water. But it doesn’t seem like it. The United Nations says there were at least 700,000 households in Nepal, mostly in the Far Western region, that didn’t have any access to safe water—even before last year’s earthquakes. But even outside the Far West, drinking water does not come easy for hundreds of thousands of Nepalis. The case of Bed Bahadur Chhetri, a fourth grader from Subhadrakharka village in Parbat district, is a sobering reminder of the scale of the crisis and of the unintended consequences of water scarcity.
For the past two years Chettri, whenever he leaves home for school, does not forget to take along his metal cistern. It is to carry drinking water home when he is returning from school. There are no drinking water sources near his house. If he doesn’t carry water, there will be nothing to drink for his family. So even while he sometimes forgets his school tie (which is not compulsory) he makes sure he never leaves without the cistern. But it’s not out of choice. Chhetri and his school colleagues complain that since most of their attention is focused on procuring water for their household, they invariably neglect their studies. Official statistics also belie other troubling indicators. For instance even among the Nepalis who are supposedly getting regular water supply, the water being obtained by 85 percent of those household don’t meet international standards for safety. To compound things, entire swathes of land along the east-west Chure range are now bone dry as they have not witnessed any rain over the past six months.
So how will Nepal handle this growing water crisis? There are no easy answers. In urban areas techniques like rainwater harvesting and minimizing water use through, for example, more water-efficient commodes could be one way to go about it. In the long run, there must also be some kind of restriction on digging for water from underground sources as water table in urban hubs like Kathmandu and Pokhara are declining at alarming rates. In rural areas there should be at least one source of safe water for every VDC. This is easier said than done when local water sources are drying up and when there is no rain for long stretches. Planting more trees would help with the rainfall in rural areas. More than that, the government could empower individual communities to deal with their water problems on their own. What do they need to bring piped water from the nearest water sources? What are the logistical hurdles and how can they overcome them? Are there other alternative sources? It is only by exploring such bottom-up approaches that durable solutions to our water woes will be found.
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