“Kathmandu should go for community-level initiatives to manage faecal sludge,” says Gallagher

David Kevin Gallagher, Chairperson of  AEROSAN is shocked to see how this beautiful city Kathmandu has been turned into one of the most unmanaged cities of the world in last 50 years.

He came to Kathmandu, all way from London, driving  his Land Rover in 1967 to enjoy the unearthly  freedom, which was termed “hippie” in those days. 

“Kathmandu was as beautiful as paradise when I was here half a century ago.The air was clean, the roads were wide for the occasional traffic and people were nice. Now, it seems, Kathmandu has gone insane,” he says.

He wonders how the municipality of Kathmandu would manage the waste from all the people living here. He says that especially the human waste from the toilets should be managed at community level  before it reaches the holy river and before it becomes  almost impossible to treat again. 

“Instead of going after big money and big projects,  Kathmandu should give priority to small-scale  initiative with strong participation and ownership of the local people,” he stresses, during his recent visit to Kathmandu as a development worker. 

However, Gallagher is impressed to see that all government officials and development have good  coordination in Biratnagar in construction of a  community-level plant which turns faecal sludge of a public toilet into cooking gas.

He says that the local solution is the key to make the change happen in the short time and this public toilet project has demonstrated it.

He is happy that AEROSAN contributed in the process to show a path where the municipalities could better manage the fecal waste with optimum resources in the developing country like Nepal.

Source: Water Discourse Vol. 1 Issue 1 February 2017