The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has revised its existing water distribution schedule entitling the Valley residents to receive water once in five days.
The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has revised its existing water distribution schedule entitling the Valley residents to receive water once in five days. The new schedule that covers six areas of western Kathmandu—Bansbari, Pani Pokahri, Chettrapati, Lazimpat, Kapan and Balwatar—will be implemented starting Thursday.
According to KUKL officials, the monsoon outpour has eased the water supply making way for change in an earlier schedule that sanctioned water every ten days. “We make the schedule based on water supply available and the current rise in the supply of water has enabled us to distribute water more frequently. So, consumers can get more water now,” said Chandra Lal Nakarmi, general manager at the KUKL.
Nakarmi said water collected at reservoirs in Shivapuri and Bishnumati, with collective capacity of 4 million litres, has increased to 10 million litres after which KUKL released a set of schedule on Monday.
The schedule will also be available online on KUKL’s website. Earlier this month, the water utility had released a schedule that covered Mahankal area in central Kathmandu, Nakarmi said.
Last month, fifteen lawmakers had submitted a report on drinking water under the ambitious “Kathmandu Unified Vision” to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. The lawmakers in their report said the demand for water in the Valley was higher than what is being supplied and urged the government to devise a more sustainable plan to deal with the chronic water crisis.
The report also said that the KUKL has been able to meet only 35 per cent of the total demand for water in the Valley. “For Kathmandu’s population of 3.5 million, the annual demand for water is around 360 million litres a day. However, the supply of water is limited to 110 million litres a day,” the report states.
According to the report, besides KUKL, 700 companies are also supplying ground water throughout the Valley. The report has also urged the government to entitle more responsibilities to the KUKL for better supervision and monitoring. Currently, the KUKL looks after water supply in all cities in the Valley, including Kirtipur, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. The lawmakers in the report also urged the government to authorise the KUML to distribute water in all VDCs in the Valley.
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