Of late a lot of hotels and restaurants operators in the tourist town are pumping the water from the scenic lake, which is polluted to a certain extent, for laundry and other cleaning purposes. Moreover, such pipelines could tangle and capsize the boats that ferry tourists and locals alike.
According to a PSMO spokesperson, Ananta Prasad Koirala, the sub-metropolitan office has asked the hotel entrepreneurs to stop pumping water from the lake by the next three days. [break]
Over a hundred hotels and restaurants in the vicinity of the lake directly supply water from the lake. While many hotel entrepreneurs directly supply the lake water to their hotels and restaurants, using machine pumps, some hotel operators have even laid underground pipelines.
“It has been found that the polluted water of the lake is being used for various purposes in the hotels. It can have adverse effects upon the health of the public as well as the tourists,” Koirala said.
“Thought the hotel operators claim that they purify the water before using it, our health experts have found that the lake water is not eligible for daily use purpose,” he further said, adding that waste materials from drainages, canals in Pokhara have seeped into the lake.
Apart from this, the locals are further polluting the lake by bathing, washing clothes, swimming and cleaning their domestic animals.
If the hotel operators do not take out their water pipes and pump sets within the next three days, the PSMO will confiscate the materials and take action as per Local Self Governance Act -2055 B.S., informed Koirala.
The act stipulates a fine up to Rs. 15,000. On the other hand, the hotel entrepreneurs complain that they were compelled to pump water from the lake as the water cooperation in Pokhara does not supply water sufficiently.
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