News Watch

River restoration is not just an ecological act

Author(s): Aditya Batra

Despite decades of restoration efforts by a rich ensemble of state-development actors, cultural heritage votaries and rights activists, the Bagmati is nothing less than a sewage canal by the time it meets its tributaries in Kathmandu. In her book Reigning the River: Urban Ecologies and Political Transformation in Kathmandu Anne Rademacher, assistant professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University, chronicles how the river’s degradation resonates with the perceived social, cultural, religious and political disorder in the tumultuous democracy. She shares her insights with Aditya Batra Read more: River restoration is not just an ecological act

What to do while waiting for the Melamchi mirage?

Don’t ask what the municipality can do for you, just start storing your own rainwater.

Bhrikuti Rai Read more: What to do while waiting for the Melamchi mirage?

Pipe dream

Water scarcity in Kathmandu

Although there are no hard and fast rules on designating a city as a metropolis, the rule of the thumb is that the urban hub has to have at least a million residents (a test Kathmandu passes easily) and its people’s access to basic facilities like reliable power, water supply and sewerage systems (in all of which Kathmandu fails miserably). Take its erratic water supply system. During the rainy season, there is just about enough water for daily chores. But during the dry winter season, a household would be lucky to get a 1,000-liter tank-full of water in a week. The hard truth is that under the current arrangements, there is just not enough potable water for the fast-growing Kathmandu population (two million and counting). The current water demand of Kathmandu is 350 million liters a day (MLD), but the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), the city’s only water utility, is able to supply barely 60 MLD. This acute shortfall is the reason KUKL has been forced to ration water. The problem is that many consumers are not getting even the bare minimum they need to survive.

KUKL fails to keep its word on supply schedule

KATHMANDU, MAR 24 - The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has failed to release the much-awaited water distribution schedule which it claimed would relieve consumers from having to wake up in odd hours to collect a few buckets of water . The valley water authority had last month assured the consumers to come out with the schedule starting March 15.

KUKL plans schedule to ration water

KATHMANDU, MAR 10 - Residents of Kathmandu Valley, who are accustomed to a power supply schedule, will soon get a water distribution timetable too.