More than 500 households of Tumbdada and Daga in Badigad Rural Municipality-1, Baglung do not have access to safe drinking water. The only water supply arrangement for all 530 households in the two villages is 50 water taps installed some 30 years ago.

“The source of water for the taps is a natural spring some 12 kilometres away,” said Rem Bahadur Bhujel, vice-chairman of the Consumers Committee. “The villagers suffer from acute water shortages during the dry season or if the supply line gets damaged.”

According to Bhujel, none of the 530 households in the two villages is able to meet their water needs.

The locals make their way to the taps at 4 am to fetch water but most return with empty buckets since the taps run dry soon after, says Sita BK of Tumbdada.

“The population of the villages has increased over the years and the current supply of water is not enough,” said BK. “My children have missed so many school days because I take them along to fetch water in the morning. More than 10 households line up to get water from one tap.”

Tempers run high in these community taps every morning, leading to disputes, says Bhujel, the vice-chairman of the Consumers Committee.

“People fight over issues like someone knocking down their bucket while standing in line or for cutting into the queue,” said Bhujel. “This has created an environment of discord and mistrust among the villagers.”

According to Bhujel, Tutiphed, Gahate and Simalchaur, among other settlements, reel under water scarcity, especially from April to June. The old pipes leak in several places, robbing the locals of the little water they get from these pipes.

According to Bom Bahadur Thapa, ward chairman of Badigad Rural Municipality-1, the Drinking Water and Sanitation Division Office has initiated work to boost water supply in the area by building water tanks and laying pipes, among others.

“The water in the spring is depleting and we are looking for other alternatives to get water from. So far, we haven’t found a concrete solution to the problem,” said Thapa.

"The sanitation is poor in the villages due to the shortage of water. Almost all the houses have toilets but none of them are in use.”

Some water tanks are being constructed to ease the shortage but they have not been completed due to a lack of funds, Thapa said.

Thapa says that the rural municipality has failed to hire workers for the tanks’ construction, especially after one worker died at the construction site two months ago.

The shortage of water has also affected the running of Khadga Devi Secondary School. The school with 700 students does not have a single working toilet with water supply.

“There is only one tap in the school, which is not enough to cater to 700 students and several teachers every day,” said Durga Thapa, a local resident. “The ward has started a campaign to stop open defecation but it has failed miserably due to the water scarcity.”