This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/09/kathmandu-nepal-city-glaciers-water-crisis
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Kathmandu: a city within sight of glaciers struggles with water crisis | Kathmandu: a city within sight of glaciers struggles with water crisis |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| Every morning, just a few metres away from a busy, dusty road in Kalanki, Kathmandu, Ambika Thapa sells water from a 5,000-litre tank. From where she stands, you need only turn your head slightly and the lofty, snow-capped Himalayan mountain range rises into view. Sadly, this vision provides nothing to quench a thirst. | |
| Prabhat Tamang, a customer of Thapa who owns a small, mobile food stall in the area, knows the mountains’ torment all too well. “What can you do with these mountains if they can’t even provide water to drink? It’s like money in the bank – you can see it, but you can’t get it,” he says, smiling. | Prabhat Tamang, a customer of Thapa who owns a small, mobile food stall in the area, knows the mountains’ torment all too well. “What can you do with these mountains if they can’t even provide water to drink? It’s like money in the bank – you can see it, but you can’t get it,” he says, smiling. |
| Thapa’s two tanks rest easily against the landscape, pierced by two taps and covered in advertisements for Nerolac paint. The water she sells comes from a spring nearby, in the hills that surround the valley. | Thapa’s two tanks rest easily against the landscape, pierced by two taps and covered in advertisements for Nerolac paint. The water she sells comes from a spring nearby, in the hills that surround the valley. |
| Customers queue, fill their jars and pay, a process more commonly seen at petrol stations. Unlike a regular petrol station, however, Thapa does not have access to automated price and volume readings. Instead, she calculates the sale of the water based on the size of the jars and buckets people bring to fill. The profits she makes are her family’s bread and butter. | Customers queue, fill their jars and pay, a process more commonly seen at petrol stations. Unlike a regular petrol station, however, Thapa does not have access to automated price and volume readings. Instead, she calculates the sale of the water based on the size of the jars and buckets people bring to fill. The profits she makes are her family’s bread and butter. |
| Roshni Rana, one of Thapa’s regular customers, lives in a rented house nearby. As she leans her pregnant body towards the tank to fill her jars and a two-year-old boy clings to her side, she explains : “We get water once a week for half an hour from government-installed taps in rented houses. Sometimes they release the water at midnight and we don’t even know as we are all asleep. There aren’t any other options than buying from here.” Once Rana’s 20-litre jars are full, she hands over10 Nepalese rupees (about seven pence) from her trousers and returns home. | Roshni Rana, one of Thapa’s regular customers, lives in a rented house nearby. As she leans her pregnant body towards the tank to fill her jars and a two-year-old boy clings to her side, she explains : “We get water once a week for half an hour from government-installed taps in rented houses. Sometimes they release the water at midnight and we don’t even know as we are all asleep. There aren’t any other options than buying from here.” Once Rana’s 20-litre jars are full, she hands over10 Nepalese rupees (about seven pence) from her trousers and returns home. |
| At the end of the working day, Thapa locks up the tank’s water taps before leaving for home herself. “I sell about 3,000 to 4,000 litres of water every day,” she says. “Water has become so precious that every drop has value,” she adds, explaining the strong locks securing the taps in her absence. | At the end of the working day, Thapa locks up the tank’s water taps before leaving for home herself. “I sell about 3,000 to 4,000 litres of water every day,” she says. “Water has become so precious that every drop has value,” she adds, explaining the strong locks securing the taps in her absence. |
| According to the Nepalese government’s Central Bureau of Statistics, one in every five Kathmandu households has no access to a domestic water source and two-thirds of its urban households live with an inadequate water supply. | According to the Nepalese government’s Central Bureau of Statistics, one in every five Kathmandu households has no access to a domestic water source and two-thirds of its urban households live with an inadequate water supply. |
| Estimates show that the city of 4 million has a severe water deficit. The demand is triple the current supply of 106m litres a day , which further reduces to 75m litres a day during the dry season [PDF] . Despite growing demand, little has been done to increase supply. | Estimates show that the city of 4 million has a severe water deficit. The demand is triple the current supply of 106m litres a day , which further reduces to 75m litres a day during the dry season [PDF] . Despite growing demand, little has been done to increase supply. |
| In recent years, the water crisis in the capital has deepened, resulting in a rise in the number of water-selling stations. While the city’s residents are calculating drops of water, scientists estimate 224bn cubic metres of water is lost annually from Nepal into India and Bangladesh. “If you calculate per capita water availability, then Nepal has one of the highest in the world with 9,000 cubic metres (9m litres) and the country holds about 2.7% of the world’s total fresh water available,” says Pennan Chinnasamy, a water resources expert at the International Water Management Institute in Kathmandu. | In recent years, the water crisis in the capital has deepened, resulting in a rise in the number of water-selling stations. While the city’s residents are calculating drops of water, scientists estimate 224bn cubic metres of water is lost annually from Nepal into India and Bangladesh. “If you calculate per capita water availability, then Nepal has one of the highest in the world with 9,000 cubic metres (9m litres) and the country holds about 2.7% of the world’s total fresh water available,” says Pennan Chinnasamy, a water resources expert at the International Water Management Institute in Kathmandu. |
| The answer to why the capital of the world’s most water abundant country is in such a dire situation is as diverse as the rivers that flow through it. About 6,000 rivers and rivulets flow through the small landlocked country between China to the north and India to the south. None of the rivers that flow through Kathmandu city is clean, wells are drying up, the groundwater table is lowering and the water distribution system is weak and inefficient. | The answer to why the capital of the world’s most water abundant country is in such a dire situation is as diverse as the rivers that flow through it. About 6,000 rivers and rivulets flow through the small landlocked country between China to the north and India to the south. None of the rivers that flow through Kathmandu city is clean, wells are drying up, the groundwater table is lowering and the water distribution system is weak and inefficient. |
| Many cite the city’s haphazard development as the main reason for the crisis, while some see politics over water projects as the cause. “We failed to implement our laws effectively on urban development, which led to haphazard urbanisation. Too much politics on development projects aimed to bring water to serve the capital has resulted in this dire situation,” says Kishore Thapa, a former secretary of the ministry of urban development. | Many cite the city’s haphazard development as the main reason for the crisis, while some see politics over water projects as the cause. “We failed to implement our laws effectively on urban development, which led to haphazard urbanisation. Too much politics on development projects aimed to bring water to serve the capital has resulted in this dire situation,” says Kishore Thapa, a former secretary of the ministry of urban development. |
| One of the over-politicised projects he is referring to is the Melamchi water project. The unfinished project was designed in 1998 and set to divert 170m litres of water per day to Kathmandu from the Melamchi River in the Sindhupalchowk district bordering China. Tensions between locals demanding compensation for water diverted from the river, government tussles over various issues, inefficient contractors for tunnel construction and, most significantly, corruption has hampered completion of the project. | One of the over-politicised projects he is referring to is the Melamchi water project. The unfinished project was designed in 1998 and set to divert 170m litres of water per day to Kathmandu from the Melamchi River in the Sindhupalchowk district bordering China. Tensions between locals demanding compensation for water diverted from the river, government tussles over various issues, inefficient contractors for tunnel construction and, most significantly, corruption has hampered completion of the project. |
| But in many parts of the city, pipeline construction for the nearly two-decade-old Melamchi project has gained momentum in the last couple of months, keeping many Kathmandu residents’ hopes alive. “The pipe has arrived after 17 years. Let’s hope some day water will flow down from our taps, as they have been providing air instead of water for many years,” Narayan says with a big smile. | But in many parts of the city, pipeline construction for the nearly two-decade-old Melamchi project has gained momentum in the last couple of months, keeping many Kathmandu residents’ hopes alive. “The pipe has arrived after 17 years. Let’s hope some day water will flow down from our taps, as they have been providing air instead of water for many years,” Narayan says with a big smile. |
| The water hub is funded by Grundfos. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘brought to you by’. Find out more here. | The water hub is funded by Grundfos. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘brought to you by’. Find out more here. |
| This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a GSB memberto get more stories like this direct to your inbox. | This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a GSB memberto get more stories like this direct to your inbox. |