On Friday, locals of Kerabari in Hariwon Municipality welcomed their local representatives with fanfare as their village was supplied with water.

“Every morning, our first concern used to be managing the water,” said Hem Kumari Rai, a local of Chure in Kerabari. “We have been facing this ordeal for as long as we remember.”

On top of that, the water from the Purbeli river is impure, said Rai, and the locals had to trek for about two hours to bring the water. “The new facility has changed our life,” Rai added. “We are very happy.” The water supply project benefits 65 households in the village.

Chure locals said they were disappointed for the water crisis even after the village became part of the municipality.

“Now the representatives look concerned about the crisis and we welcome it,” said Durga Rai, another local.

The new project makes use of the ‘lift technology’, which pumps water from its source to the tank, from where it’s distributed to the households. In Chure, a 7.5HP motor powered by a 15KV generator lifts the water off the Fatti river. The water is collected in two tanks constructed in the village.

Krishna Bahadur Rai, chief of the drinking water consumers’ committee, said that the project’s construction in the village was not easy. “The uneven topography and the location of the village on a hilltop meant we needed to use the expensive lift technology,” he said. “But it was possible when the municipality invested about Rs3 million.”

Mayor Ganesh Prasain said clean drinking water is a right granted by the constitution and the local unit was committed to guaranteeing it.

“For a lack of clean drinking water, the settlement was exposed to the risks of various health hazards like cholera,” Prasain said. “Now the settlement is safe and the people are happy.”