Promoting equitable water distribution system from Melamchi Water Supply Project in Kathmandu Valley

The effective and efficient supply of drinking water resources are key to its long-term use and access. In recent decades, the population of Kathmandu Valley has exploded owing to several factors. The water supply system here has also undergone remarkable changes and efforts have been made to enhance its equitable distribution. The major effort, of course is the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP). As the project approaches completion of its first phase, we would like to point out several key issues to water distribution system here and express our opinions on promoting equitable water distribution. For this we conducted a thorough literature review and found that improvement in water distribution network and water tariff in the valley, along with promotion of alternate mitigation options are the focal issues for promoting equitable water distribution system in Kathmandu Valley.


INTRODUCTION
The demand of drinking water in urban areas is ever increasing because of population growth and corresponding increase of economic activities. The situation also applies to a fast growing area like Kathmandu Valley which today, is facing an acute water shortage. The rural-to-urban migration (highest contributor which is driven by economic opportunities), economic centralityconcentration of social and economic services, socio-political factorsthe decade long Maoist insurgency (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)  Increasing urbanization does not guarantee reliable access to safe and sustainable water supply and it often causes inequality of water supply (Rode ). The basic human water requirement is considered 50 L per capita per day (lpcd) (Gleick ) and for economic use of water for domestic and industrial needs, it is considered 135 lpcd (Chenoweth ). The Government of Nepal has made the categorization of water supply service in Nepal as (presented in terms of quantity only) basic with 45 lpcd water supply, medium with 65 lpcd water supply and high with 112 lpcd water supply (MoUD ). Drinking water supply shortage has forced families to manually carry water from far-away sources or to purchase bottled or jar water which may not be affordable on a regular basis (Molden et al. ). Inadequate access to proper drinking water has led to increased instances of diseases, health risks and associated economic burdens, which disproportionately impact the poor and vulnerable groups of the valley (ADB ).
Diverting water from the Melamchi River was considered one of the best alternatives for a long term solution. Hence, the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) was designed but it has almost been two decades that the MWSP has been under construction, plagued by multiple delays. According to the project update report of July, 2020, 97% of infrastructural work of this project has been completed. An announcement to complete the first phase by mid-July, 2020 has also been made by Ministry of Water Supply. But a further delay is likely because of the Covid-19 pandemic as majority of the workers have left the project site due to the lockdown imposed by the government (TKP ).
The equitable and efficient distribution of water supply to the residents of the Valley requires that policy makers adapt to changing socio-economic, environmental and geographic contexts. The equitable supply of drinking water resources is key to its long-term use and access. This paper attempted to find out the real problems of water distribution and suggested the actions to be taken for maximizing public   Likewise, in Chennai, the tariff of NRs 6.41 per litre up to 10 kilolitre (CMWSSB ). The rates although different to reflect on the water availability, investment and other issues, seems to be a better tariff regime as it charges amount per lifeline block but is considerate of volumetric use of water.
In a study by Suwal et al. (), respondents in Kathmandu Valley were found to desire affordable piped water services and water bills that are calculated fairly for everyone. But varied preferences were also found, hence instead of following the same old IBT scheme, utility managers can choose a tariff structure which best achieves cost recovery and revenue stability . End users of vended water (water bought by consumers in the form of both tanker truck water and bottled water as a result of public water not being sufficient) pay approximately 3.4 times as much for vended water as they pay for water from the public piped water distribution system (Raina et al. ). This creates a unique opportunity to raise water tariffs with the delivery of improved piped services. Ojha et al. () suggest increasing the water price by 54% to meet operation and maintenance costs. However, the potential price hike and possible exclusion of urban poor from basic human rights needs special arrangement. Different rates of water tariffs are required considering their poor economic status. The strategies of saving and reusing water and avoiding wastage should be implemented at the household level.

ALTERNATE MITIGATION OPTIONS
Likewise, compulsory water metering has to be stressed.
Although the water tariff scheme already provides incentives for metering (charge of NRs. 100 Vs Nrs. 785 for ½" connection size), it should be made compulsory. In an intermittent Water Distribution Network like that in Kathmandu Valley such system is necessary to avoid water wastage. Consumers in high pressure areas tend to replace old stocks with fresh stocks of water each time supply is restored (McIntosh Currently, 246 billion litre groundwater storage has been created in the groundwater aquifers due to depletion and to recharge this Chinnasamy & Shrestha () suggest using MSWP water to recharge groundwater during the monsoon season and using groundwater sources to ease the supply stress during the dry seasons.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
MWSP is the one of the most highly awaited drinking water supply projects in Nepal and holds high hopes for resolving the water crisis in Kathmandu Valley. But the delays in the completion of the project has brewed uncertainty and has added demand pressures on the project. Keeping a few issues in consideration would help assure an equitable water supply in the valley. The reconfiguration of water distribution network has to be planned and the water tariff scheme has to be improved. Furthermore, even though MWSP will ease the severe water crisis in the Valley it will not be the one stop solution. The first phase of the project is already falling short hence, we also need to be thinking of options beyond Melamchi.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
All relevant data are included in the paper or its Supplementary Information.