Drinking Water

In this chapter Drinking water, we discuss about the drinking water, importance of water, condition of drinking water in Nepal. Reference Notes Grade 8.

Drinking Water:

Water is a basic need of life. Without water, it is impossible to survive. Moreover, water is required for cooking, washing, cleaning, etc. Not only humans, even other animals and plants require water. An aquatic ecosystem is impossible without water.

In Nepal, water is also a main source of electricity.But the water we use should be pure to remain healthy and prevent ourselves from water-borne diseases. Many people die because of water-borne diseases, especially in the rural areas. People used to drink the water from river and lakes but sometimes they can be harmful. These problems affect the human resource and development of the country. A country has to pay a huge amount of money to solve these problems instead. But the accessible solution is to provide pure healthy drinking water.

In Kathmandu, Bir Shamsher made tap water available for the first time. He also built several water spouts and a reservoir. At present, Drinking Water Corporation is responsible for water supply in the Kathmandu valley. But, the water provided still is not free of impurities.

In Nepal, water is also a main source of electricity. But the water we use should be pure to remain healthy and prevent ourselves from water-borne diseases. Many people die because of water-borne diseases, especially in the rural areas. People used to drink the water from river and lakes but sometimes they can be harmful. These problems affect the human resource and development of the country.

The country has to pay a huge amount of money to solve these problems instead but, the accessible solution is to provide pure healthy drinking water. At present, Drinking Water Corporation is responsible for water supply in the Kathmandu valley.

People in the rural area have to walk a day just to fetch a bucket of water. They are falling sick because of impure drinking water. Not only in the rural area, the people of cities also can't get water from their taps regularly. If they can be provided with pure drinking water then, many time and labour can be saved.

People of the Terai have to depend on the underground water. Poisonous chemical named arsenic has been found in the underground drinking water. In water pump and water tap of the arsenic area, a red colour sign can be found.

Condition of Nepal water supply:

Melamchi flooding, attributed to a sudden bursting of the river blocked by landslides triggered by incessant rainfall, has caused significant damage to the Melamchi Water Supply Project. The main tunnel, which ferries water from the Melamchi river to the Kathmandu Valley, that lies nearly 800 metres from the headworks area has suffered damage. Before the 26.3-km main tunnel, there is a 298-metre adit tunnel—the gateway to the main tunnel.

The flood has damaged a concrete bridge at the Ambathan adit and two other Bailey bridges, which were temporarily erected to support construction activities.The flood has not only impacted the first phase of the Melamchi project, which aims to supply 170 million litres of drinking water daily to the Kathmandu Valley, but also the second phase of the project that plans to bring in an additional 170 million litres per day each from the Yangri and Larke rivers. Flushing out of the water started from Sundarijal side and blocked any more water inside the tunnel, which meant the closure of tunnel gates