Fighting to be heard in Nepal

Nepal has an abundance of water; yet getting a service of water to the population remains a challenge for donors and government alike.

Since the 1980s drinking water supply in the Kathmandu Valley has deteriorated and there is now a serious shortage. Not only is the quantity of water dangerously insufficient but also the quality of water delivered is way below the World Health Organisation's standards for public health.

A series of reforms have been introduced to improve Kathmandu's water supply systems, including developing a more efficiently managed delivery system and providing a more equitable service to customers.

One of the long term solutions to the valley's water crisis is a complex inter-basin water transfer project which will divert water from the Melamchi Valley into the Kathmandu Valley. The Government of Nepal has made an agreement with the main donor for the project, the Asian Development Bank, to hire a private company to manage the Kathmandu Valley water system until the project is completed. The hope is that the project will be completed by 2012. It will require enormous effort by the government, donor and contractor alike.

Civil society groups have been scrutinising the proposals to ensure that the water stress of poor people is reduced and that attention is paid to the larger environmental conditions of the Kathmandu Valley. Together 144 groups formed the NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation in 2001.

The group has, through community consultation, national workshops and high level meetings, given voice to the concerns of the water consumers. The poor and disfranchised have been especially well represented, since it is they who will ultimately have to pay for these expensive projects.