Drinking Water Policies and Quality issues in Nepal

Introduction

Safe water to drink is one of the most basic of human needs. Access to water and sanitation plays a crucial role in the overall social and economic development of a community. Therefore, this sector should be given a high priority for development, in a sustainable and socially acceptable manner, with the use of appropriate technologies. Yet, many developing countries are failing to apply even those standard water quality control methods developed almost a century ago for water quality improvements. Without simpler and cheaper methods, water quality control is almost non-existent in developing countries and is the ultimate challenge for professionals in this sector. In developing countries, large sections of the population are often dependent for drinking purposes on raw water that has not been treated in any way.

Drinking water criteria defines a quality of water that can be safely consumed by humans throughout their lifetime. Such criteria have been developed by international organizations and include the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. This information resides in the public domain and is available for governments, professionals and concerned members of the public. (WHO 1984, 1993)

Health hazards caused by unsafe water supplies are recognized as major problems in developing countries. As indicated in Chapter 18 of ‘Agenda 21’ of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), “…. An estimated 80% of all diseases and over one-third of deaths in developing countries are caused by the consumption of contaminated water, and on average as much as one-tenth of each person’s productive time is sacrificed to water related diseases” (Lloyd, B.J et al. 1991).

Every year about 45,000 children below the age of five years die in Nepal from sanitation related problems, which are attributed to inadequate supplies of water and/ or its poor quality. Improving the quality of the water supply and sanitation has been shown to reduce the morbidity due to different diseases by significant amounts. The projected reduction in morbidity due to improvement in water supply and sanitation are estimated by WHO (1992) as; Cholera, Typhoid, Dracunculiasis (80-100%); Schistosomiasis (60-70%); and Dysentery, Diarrhoeal diseases (40-50%). The median anticipated reduction in child mortality was estimated at 55% due to improved water supply and sanitation (Esrey. et al). This indicates that improving water and sanitation is a critical step towards protecting public health in a significant way.

Adequate water supply nearby to the community is another issue. Women in particular are often deprived of opportunities to engage in income generating activities because of the need to spend hours in fetching water. A minimum of 30 per cent of the total time saved could be used for other economically productive activities. Inadequate water supplies nearby can also have a significant impact on sanitation.

Although systematic and planned development programs of public water supply and sanitation in Nepal started from the beginning of the First Five-Year Plan (1956-1961), the sector was only given a significant priority from the Fourth Five-Year Plan. Since then, different programs to specifically increase the number of water supply and sanitation projects have been launched. The main focus has been and still is on coverage rather than quality improvement of the water supplied. Nepal requires policies, legislation, and institutional arrangements for compliance and regular monitoring, to be followed by donors and Developmental Institutions in order to provide safe drinking water for the people of Nepal.

Water Supply Policies and Difficulties

The Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) estimated national urban water supply coverage at 62.5%, and set a target for 100 % coverage, with sanitation for 40 % of the population, by the end of the plan. This proved to be an ambitious target and Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Department / HMG projected early on that by 2002 only 71 % would be covered by drinking water quantity and 30 % by sanitation. These figures are also questionable, because they do not take into account the poor operational status or the poor quality of water supplies from the facilities that have already been built. As high as 92% of the piped water supplies and 25% of the tube wells are reported to be either out of operation or in need of rehabilitation.

The development of the water and sanitation sector remains a high priority of the government, and in this regard the draft Tenth Plan Period (2003-2007) targets to supply water to 85 percent of the rural population and 100 percent for the urban population. The government has also realized that providing drinking water and sanitation facilities to all, especially in rural areas, cannot be accomplished by government efforts alone. Thus, it has adopted the policy of promoting people’s participation for making water and sanitation systems sustainable, reliable and cost effective, through the mobilization of community based organizations (CBOs), Water Users Groups (WUCs) etc.

The polices and commitment of HMGN have resulted in an extension of this sector under multilateral aid agencies like World Bank, Asian Development Board (ADB), bilaterally assisted projects and International/National Non-Governmental Organizations (I/NGOs) working in this sector. Different approaches are being used by different organizations working with different projects in many parts of Nepal, but the goal is the same - safe water, and sanitation.

Problems, Issues & Challenges

Environmental contamination of drinking water at source, through the conveyance system and even at the users’ level, can spread infectious diseases like cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, dysentery, worms etc. Also, harmful materials such as heavy metals, pesticides etc. can reach drinking water by various routes and water quality may deteriorate (WHO, 1995).

In Nepal, due to rapid population growth, unsanitary disposal of wastes and other human activities, most of the water sources are becoming polluted. The prevailing practices of open defecation, unscientific disposal of human wastes and agricultural practices in most of the rural villages have increased the level of microbiological contamination in the water from streams, springs and ground sources. Water quality problems caused by physical and chemical parameters have huge impacts on public health when the concentrations are high.

In the Terai regions, the draw down of the water table every year is another serious problem, with some shallow tube wells becoming non-functional. Many of the major problems associated with Terai Tubewell systems and gravity flow systems can be attributed to lack of feasibility studies and poor design, which does not take water quality into consideration. There is a lack of consumer awareness as well as a lack of proper monitoring systems including repair and maintenance. Provision of water treatment is beyond affordability in terms of manpower and cost due to the small size and scattered nature of installations, and frequent land slides and intensive erosion processes in the hills creates destruction in transmission and distribution systems. Responsibility, commitment, guidelines and actions are not clearly defined within policies, legislations or institutional frame works at either the National or the Grass Roots Level.

Ambitious Target and Challenges

For the provision of quality water supplies, the concerned authorities have to give special consideration to the preparation of drinking water quality guidelines and inventories for both quality and quantity of water coverage. The quality of water that is potable should be properly defined.

The target of His Majesty Government Nepal’s draft Tenth Plan Period (2003-2007) targets to supply water to 85 percent of the rural population and 100 percent for the urban population. The targets in all of the previous five-year plans could not be achieved. In addition, the plans do not take into account the poor operational status or the poor quality of water supplied by the completed facilities. As a result, by the end of the Tenth five-year plan, there will likely not be the remarkable achievements in the water supply and sanitation sector that are being aimed for.

Treatment of water in all rural supply systems to improve the water quality seems not to be economically feasible or manageable at the community level. This really needs intensive, detailed, investigation and research to determine appropriate and sustainable technological options, which take into consideration the socio-economic and traditional values of the country. Thus, water quality assessment of specific quality parameters is essential at the various stages of development. This in turn will help in the development of appropriate strategic planning and remedial action for water quality improvements. There is a clear need for an effective water quality monitoring and surveillance program to ensure a safe and sustainable water supply system in Nepal.

Major research work is required in this sector in both the technical and social aspects of water supply and sanitation, focusing on affordable, environmentally friendly, and socially acceptable solutions. Community based need identifications are required as well as detailed assessments of the existing practices. The research can be also based on modern technology, utilizing computer based modeling for different locations using Finite Element Methods and Artificial Neural Networks to assess the present situation, as well as for forecasting the future level of contaminations and draw down etc. This approach demands technically qualified and experienced human resources supported by financial resources.

Conclusion And Recommendation

Access to quality water supply is one of the fundamental requirements for sustaining human life. Without safe, good quality water, people are susceptible to various water related diseases. Therefore the concern of the government and the people has to be not only the accessibility of adequate water supplies, but also the availability of good quality water supplies. From the above data and discussions, the targets set by HMG-N seem both ambitious and unreliable. Therefore the following recommendations are offered for further improvement of this sector.

· There should be central level co-ordination between the institutions working in Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation. At present, Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning, Ministry of Local Development and Ministry of Social Welfare etc. all are working in this field in their own way. To maximize the effectiveness of the funds and effort being expended, a Central Institution responsible for Water and Sanitation should be set up, and the policy and legislation should be reviewed and transformed.

· Priority should be given to Community Based Sanitary Surveillance so that the present sanitation scenario will be identified and program areas requiring proper sanitation can be addressed properly.

· Public-Private Partnerships should be given preferences and the role of NGO should be made clear.

· Through the Local governance Act, VDC/DDC level Water Quality Resource Centers should be established. If it is currently not possible at VDC level then Water Quality Resource Centers should be established at least at the regional and district levels immediately, and ultimately extended to the VDC level so that the VDC level is empowered.

· Community friendly and low cost technology should be applied in the field of water supply and sanitation so that the local people won’t feel completely new to the technologies and the program will become more sustainable.

· In urban areas where there is high demand for water and where people can afford to pay, quality water supply should be encouraged under the concept of cost recovery and public private partnership.

To achieve the goal of quality drinking water at the community level, there is a long way to go. The immediate need is to assess water quality, health impacts, and sustainability of drinking water systems, both in Terai and Mountainous regions of Nepal. A comparison study of present practices of a few similar rural cities in other developing countries like Thailand, India, and Bangladesh, and the lessons learned there, should also be considered.

References

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By:Dr. Dinesh C Devkota