Drinking water crisis in villages of Rupa Rural Municipality

eAdarsha.com Reporter
Mar 04, 2021
rupa

Prakash, Dhakal, March 4 : Pokhara, March 4 : Chitra Bahadur Gharti of Ramkot in Rupa Rural Municipality-7 of Kaski leaves home in the morning to fetch drinking water. After reaching the tap he keeps gaagri (metal jar)  in line. After hours, it is his turn to fill the water.

Even after the turn, it takes about half an hour to fill the gaagri. When the sun rises over his head, he finally returns with water. There are 10 houses in that area. There is a pipeline in the middle of the village but velocity of water is too low.  “Everyone needs water in their house, they have to wait in line,” he said. I have been suffering from water shortage since I came to know about it. ‘He himself is the leader of bringing water to the village.

The area is preparing to take lifting water from solar. ‘If there was water, there would be taps at home. At present, there is not a single tap in the village, ‘he said. No matter how much I tried, it didn’t work out. ‘

Water is being taken from Kurlung river to the village. But because of less force, the locals doubt that enough water will fall from the tap. Work on the main line for the project has been completed. The branch pipeline has been dug. Chairman of the project Dan Bahadur Thapa said that 125 taps have already been constructed.

There are a 20,000 and 16,000 litres tanks in various places, ‘he added.  ‘Like Ramkot, most of Rupa’s villages are facing water crisis. Some are forced to fetch water from wells, some wait for days to fill up.  The ancestors settled most of the settlements high altitude. Therefore, the source of water is far away from the village.

The Rural Municipality has launched tap construction campaign. Some have been lifted by solar while some have been drawn by electricity. Large solar projects have been constructed in Ramkot, Hanspokhari, Majhagaun and Tunepani.

Currently, the Ramkot Solar Project is under construction to distribute water to more than 300 households. The project is being constructed at a cost of Rs 60 million by Unica Foundation, Rupa village municipality and locals. The municipality has stated that drinking water is being distributed in Rupa by lifting 4 solar and 9 projects from electricity.

Village Municipality Chairman Nawaraj Ojha informed that water has been distributed to about 2,000 households through lifting alone. The Gandaki state government has set a target of providing basic drinking water to all households within this year. Apart from this, one house one tap campaign is also running. Ojha said that the Rupa Rural municipality will supply water to all the houses this year.