Floods damage 1616 drinking water projects

Due to the incessant rains that fell from September 26 to 28, the water supply project was damaged causing a loss of about Rs. 6 billion. The Ministry of Water Supply has made preliminary estimates that about 2.5 million people in 5 million houses have been affected by floods and landslides. According to the ministry, floods, landslides and inundation have damaged 1,616 water supply projects in the country. Water intakes, pump wells, pipelines, water tanks, processing plants and other important structures have been damaged a lot. The flood has also damaged GI pipes, HDPE pipes, etc. According to the ministry, the structures of waste water treatment plants and household and institutional toilets have also been damaged.

The natural calamity has caused a loss of about one billion rupees under Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Limited (KUKL). The initial estimate of the ministry is that the damage to the Temal water supply project in Kavre alone is around 100 million. Water supply structures in 58 districts including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kavre, Sindhupalchok, Ramechhap, Sindhuli, Udaipur, Sunsari have been damaged.

According to the Ministry of Water Supply, it may take up to a year for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of large projects. The ministry has said that it is working to raise financial resources for the reconstruction of the damaged water supply project. According to KUKL, there is a daily demand of 430 million liters of drinking water in the valley. However, KUKL was distributing around 180 million liters. Due to floods and landslides, it is also limited to around 80 million liters. According to KUKL, there is still a shortage of 180 million liters of water. The flood has caused damage of more than one and a half million to various water supply projects of Thaha Municipality of Makwanpur.