"When they learn that I am an employee of KUKL, they throw a volley of questions at me," he said. "They nag me until they get a satisfactory answer." [break]
He said that people, regardless of age, complain about water woes and KUKL´s inability to provide water even once a week.
He said even small children raise questions about poor management of water supply which he finds embarrassing.
Shrestha said that these days he asks the organizers who want him to attend their programs to ensure that nobody talks about water problem.
Otherwise he ends up being butt of jokes as soon as people at the gathering recognize him as a KUKL employee.
Milan Kumar Shakya, spokesperson of KUKL, said that he, too, has to suffer a lot due to the shortage of water.
Shakya buys tanker water for daily use and jar water for drinking. He said that he has stopped going on a morning walk as he was tired of having to fend off questions from his neighbors about water schedule.
"All my acquaintances keep asking me about the timing of water supply through their taps, which I cannot answer," he said. He said that he has become a target of satires from his wife and children who ask him to take a gallon to his office to fetch water.
As per the routine, water has to be supplied every 10 days in the Swayambhu area, where Shakya resides. But he conceded that not a drop has flown through his tap since a month. He said that his house lies at the end of the supply route where water hardly ever reaches.
Likewise, Ganendra Tuladhar, World Bank consultant and a member of KUKL´s Boards of Director, said that not a single drop of water has seeped from his tap since it was connected with KUKL´s line six years ago.
Tuladhar, who lives in Nayabazar area, said that there is always water scarcity in the area. "The KUKL fined me when I stopped paying the minimum charge," he said, adding, "I have to pay a fine in addition to the charge for the water that I never get."
He, too, has had to deal with complains about the poor management of water supply.
Shakya said that KUKL´s meter readers are the most vulnerable lot as they often have to endure scolding and deal with irate consumers.
Shakya conceded that KUKL cannot compel consumers to pay tariffs at a time when it has not been able to supply water to the household taps.
People wait for 10 days for a gallon of water
As per the KUKL´s revised supply routine, the Valley residents have to wait at least 10 days to get a gallon of water. The office said that due to huge decline in production, it was compelled to reschedule the distribution to ensure water for all the needy households.
"Those who had been getting water every six days will now get it in 10 days," Shakya said. According to Shakya, people who received water every four days in the past will now have to wait for eight days.
The office said that most of its surface water sources have dried up. Even the production at Sundari Jal, the main surface water source of KUKL, has declined sharply, the KUKL said.
The office has been supplying only one-fifth of the total demand for water in the capital. The KUKL said that the demand for water in the capital stands at over 350 million liters a day, whereas production is less than 80 million liters.
Growing protests at KUKL office
The KUKL has been facing growing number of protests from the residents of various parts of the capital, to which the office has not been able to supply water since long. The office said that the consumers who have been facing acute water scarcity have been protesting at the KUKL´s central office regularly. The KUKL is the responsible government agency to supply drinking water to household taps.
Shila Maharjan of Dalachhi, Kathmandu, who reached KUKL office to protest, last week complained that she did not get single drop of water since long. "The taps at my home went dry a month ago," said Maharjan. She said that her family is compelled to buy jars of water even for daily chores. "We have been spending Rs 200 for water every day," she complained. She said that her family has no choice but to wear unwashed clothes due to lack of water.
Ramila Tamang, 39, who lives in a rented room at Jaishideol, said that she cannot sleep at night properly because of the anxiety created by the lack of water.
"We have to wake up at midnight to check the tap," she complained.
Tilak Mohan Bhandari, distribution section chief of KUKL, said that he has been facing at least one delegation of angry customers every day. He said that the office is struggling to manage the growing challenges. He said that denizens of Minbhawan, Baneshwor, Dallu, Swayambhu, Nayabazar, Teku, and other areas have come to his office to protest against poor supply.
Water woes, a common tale in capital
KATHMANDU, March 24: Narayan Man Napit, a taxi driver who lives in Jaishidewal, Kathmandu, did not go to work Sunday morning as his wife told him that she would not be able to cook food if he did not bring water. Napit, 36, a father of two children, said that he worried most about his children who would have to miss school if the food was not cooked. "My children cannot go school if I do not arrange water," he said. So, instead of looking for passengers, he puts all the empty vessels in his taxi and goes out in search of water. He said that he has been spending Rs 100 on tanker water each day. For the drinking water, he goes to Satungal and Kritipur from where he can fetch water easily. Satungal is about 10 kilometers from his room. He said that he could go to find passengers if he needn´t worry about water.
Likewise, Urmila Tamang, 39, said she had spent hours waiting to buy a jar of tanker water. "There is a long queue of people waiting to buy tanker water," she said. She said that she was already late to send her daughter to school. Tamang said that she had no water in her room to cook.
Sabiri Devkoa, 36, has similar tale to tale. She said that she has to arrange water anyhow to cook food so that she can send her husband to work. She said that she used to get water from the well at the house where she lives. But with the well drying up, the landlord locked the well. "I have been buying tanker water since then," she added. She said that since tanker water was not fit to drink, she has been buying jar water as well.
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