Due to the fuel crisis caused by the economic embargo imposed by India since three and a half months, compounded by growing power outage, consumers in the Valley have been compelled to wait for at least 15 days for a gallon of drinking water from the government.
"People have to wait for at least 15 days for drinking water," Milan Kumar Shakya, Spokesperson at the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), said. The KUKL, which is responsible for supplying drinking water to households, said that the production of drinking water has declined to critically low level.
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Several delegations of water-starved consumers, which include housewives, visit the KUKL's main and branch offices everyday to pressurize the officials for drinking water. Some criticize the KUKL for its failure to supply water, while others plead to send water at least according to the schedule.
Spokesperson Shakya conceded that people in several settlements have been deprived of drinking water for months. "Due to the extended load shedding, production from deep tube wells have come down to 10 percent," said Shakya, adding, "Most of the ground sources of drinking water dry up in winter and the KUKL relies on deep tube wells during dry seasons."
According to Spokesperson Shakya, the KUKL even has been struggling to manage fuel to run the generators. "We are trying our best to manage fuel to operate generators to boost the water production," added Shakya.
The KUKL informed that demand of drinking water in the Kathmandu Valley is over 400 million liters a day, whereas production is less than 70 million liters.
