The Melamchi Drinking Water Project will distribute water to the major cities of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts.

According to Kamal Raj Shrestha, executive director of the Melamchi project, the water brought to the water treatment centre at Sundarijal in Kathmandu will be distributed. The processed water will be sent to the reserve tank at Mahankal on Thursday evening.

Sundarijal has the capacity to store 21 million litres of treated water.

Shrestha informed that the distribution of water will officially start in the presence of Minister of Water Supply Umakant Chaudhary on Friday morning. The water will be sent to all locations within a week.

“Water has to be distributed to the reserve tanks in 10 different places in the valley through a 77KM pipeline network,” Shrestha said. “The water will be supplied to some places soon while technical problems may cause delays in others.”

The water distribution will be managed by Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL). Structures are available to reserve and distribute water in places like Aarubari, Jagdol, Bansbari, Balaju, Panipokhari, Kirtipur and Katunje of Bhaktapur.

Headworks of Melamchi damaged by the June 2021 flood have been temporarily fixed to bring water. Plans to build headworks as a permanent structure are yet to be made.

The current plan is to bring 170 million litres of water to Kathmandu from Melamchi on a daily basis. In the second phase, 170 million litres of water each from Yangri and Larke rivers in Sindhupalchok to the Capital.

Melamchi river water was released 11 days ago into the tunnel which was closed last May in Ambathan estuary at Helambu in Sindhupalchok. The tunnel was closed to prevent possible flood damage to the estuary.