Geeta Sah of ward 4, Bateshwar Rural Municipality in Dhanusha, has been fetching water from a tube well for the past 15 years. Her struggle began after two attempts to install a hand pump near her home failed. She also spent Rs20,000 digging a well at a neighbour’s house. As summer approaches, she worries about water scarcity again. Residents from over 100 households in the area report similar problems, with well water levels already dropping.

Despite 45 percent of Nepal’s total land being forested, Madhesh has only 3.72 percent forest cover. This contributes to worsening water scarcity and environmental problems in the Tarai–Madhesh region. Last year, both federal and provincial governments declared Madhesh a disaster crisis zone, citing acute water shortages. 

Political parties pledge to prioritise Chure conservation and water access during elections, but the crisis continues.

Candidates from parties including the CPN-UML and Nepali Congress in Dhanusha have said they will focus on water supply and irrigation alongside Chure protection. According to the Ministry of Forests, Madhesh has 202,200 hectares of forest, with 6,831 hectares encroached across its eight districts. Unregulated river exploitation and quarrying persist in the Chure area.

Ramchandra Jha, Nepali Communist Party candidate for Dhanusha-2, said he restricted unregulated Chure exploitation as local development minister and included Chure conservation in his party’s commitment. Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Manish Kumar Jha from Dhanusha-3 said he has repeatedly raised Madhesh’s water crisis in parliament and plans to continue making it a national issue.

Nepal Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal, led by Upendra Yadav, released its election manifesto for the March 5 polls, promising programmes to protect the Chure and resolve the water crisis.

Activists have protested, held sit-ins, and walked to Kathmandu to demand federal action. But continued encroachment and unregulated exploitation are lowering groundwater levels, turning fertile Madhesh soil into barren land, reducing yields, and worsening the water shortage.