Kathmandu, June 10

Many schools in Kathmandu valley have been able to solve water woes by practising rainwater harvesting system.

Shree Indrayani Primary School in Rupa Rural Municipality was facing water problems some two years ago due to which students had also stopped coming to school. Rajendra Raj Bhattarai, principal of the school, said that especially girls used to remain absent due to lack of water in the school.

“Girls from Grade V to VIII used to remain absent during menstruation. Sometimes, female teachers also used to remain absent during menstruation. With the support of International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance in 2016, we constructed two water tanks with 20,000-litre capacity to preserve rain water,” he said.

“After installing rain water harvesting system, we have been able to provide drinking water to students and provide enough water in toilets for maintaining cleanliness and personal hygiene,” he added.

Earlier, to fetch water, the school had to deploy staff. Students were allowed to drink water only thrice at school,” said Bhairav Lal Shrestha, a member of teachers’ committee at the school.

Similarly, Ramkot Secondary School also installed rain water harvesting system recently.

“After installing rain water harvesting system at the school, it has also started hostel facility for   students,” said Bharat Bhattarai, principal of Ramkot Secondary School.