By the time the summer sun rises over Dhangadhi, the search for water has already begun. Across parts of Kailali in Nepal’s farwest, families wake before dawn to queue at the few remaining functional hand pumps (shallow tube wells) or walk to neighbouring villages carrying empty containers. As prolonged drought, extreme heat, and falling groundwater levels dry up wells that once flowed year-round, access to drinking water has become a daily struggle.

“The water shortage is beyond words. We cannot bathe, wash dishes or clothes, or even drink cold water. There is no water in the hand pump. What are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go? If only someone could somehow arrange a water tank for us,” said Kamala Puri of Phulbari in ward 14 of Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City, speaking in the stifling heat on Wednesday morning.

“How are we supposed to survive this unbearable heat without water?” she asked.

While prolonged drought has left hand pumps dry, settlements across Kailali district are facing an acute drinking water crisis. Extreme heat and a lack of rainfall have disrupted daily life, while even deep borewells no longer provide enough water.

As hand pumps dry up, residents have been forced to travel long distances in search of drinking water, adding to growing anxiety.

Urmila Puri, another resident of Phulbari, said fetching water has become a daily struggle.

“We have to start searching for water early every morning,” she said. “The hand pumps stopped working as early as March. The situation is getting worse every day, and we have to stand in line just to collect water.”

The combination of scorching temperatures and drying hand pumps has left Dhangadhi and nearby settlements desperately short of drinking water. The situation has become so severe that Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City has begun distributing drinking water to affected wards using water tankers and fire trucks.

After a severe shortage hit the Phulbari area of ward 14, the sub-metropolitan city began supplying drinking water by road tanker and fire engine from Tuesday.

Deepak Bhandari, head of the municipality’s disaster management section, said around 14,000 litres of water have been distributed daily for the past three days in the Phulbari–Syaule area.

“The shortage became so severe that we started installing a deep borewell in Syaule,” Bhandari said. “We have also received reports of an acute water shortage in the Jali area of ward 6.”

The crisis extends beyond Dhangadhi.

Several villages in Kailari Rural Municipality are also struggling to secure drinking water.

Hariram Chaudhary, a resident of Deviganj in ward 9 of Kailari, said his family now depends on water brought from neighbouring villages.

“There used to be water throughout the year,” he said. “For the past two to three years, the hand pumps have been drying up during the dry season.”

Shankar Awasthi, sub-engineer at the Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) unit of Kailari Rural Municipality, said Milanpur in ward 7, Basauti in ward 2 and Deviganj in ward 9 are among the worst-affected areas.

“Even the ward offices in wards 2 and 3 are facing a drinking water shortage,” Awasthi said. “Employees have to carry water from distant places just to meet their own needs.”

He attributed the worsening crisis to the absence of groundwater recharge.

“Ponds have dried up, and many have been filled with silt. There is almost no recharge,” he said. “As a result, groundwater levels continue to fall. In the past, water could be found at a depth of about 120 feet. Now, wells often have to be drilled as deep as 260 feet.”

Hari Prasad Chaudhary, who installs hand pumps in Kailari, said his experience reflects the same trend.

“Ten years ago, water could be found by installing pipes at a depth of around 30 feet. Now, even in those same villages, you often have to drill 80 to 90 feet before finding water,” he said.

Experts say the crisis is not sudden. It is the result of years of excessive groundwater extraction, rapid urban expansion, the spread of concrete structures and the destruction of natural groundwater recharge areas.

Over the past decade, settlements across the Tarai have expanded rapidly. Farmland, open spaces and green areas have increasingly been replaced by houses and commercial buildings, reducing the amount of rainwater that naturally seeps into the ground. Dhangadhi is among the areas most affected.

Dhangadhi Mayor Gopal Hamal warned that, if the current trend continues, the city could face a full-scale drinking water crisis within a few years.

“Encroachment of rivers and ponds, rapid urban expansion, deforestation and uncontrolled concrete construction are depleting groundwater,” Hamal said. “Studies by experts suggest that not only Dhangadhi but the entire Tarai could face severe water shortages within a few years.”

He said the municipality had identified 81 ponds and wetlands that had been destroyed and restored 13 of them last year to improve groundwater recharge.

“But that is far from enough,” he said. “The destruction of the Chure hills is another major reason.”

Grishma Thapa, chief of the Water Supply and Sanitation Division Office in Kailali, said groundwater depletion has become evident in parts of Kailari Rural Municipality, Godawari Municipality, Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City and Lamki Chuha Municipality.

“Settlements along the foothills of the Chure range are facing the greatest drinking water problems,” Thapa said. “Large water supply projects serving the Tarai have also been affected. Water levels fall during the dry season, and even settlements along the Postal Highway are experiencing shortages.”

According to him, the main causes of the crisis are the lack of groundwater recharge systems, declining rainfall and rising water consumption.

The Chure range serves as the Tarai’s natural water reservoir. Rain falling on the hills gradually filters underground, replenishing wells, hand pumps and wetlands across the plains. Experts say that extensive degradation of the Chure has disrupted this natural cycle. Excessive extraction of stone, gravel and sand, deforestation and widespread interference with natural landscapes have steadily reduced the hills’ ability to store and recharge water.