KATHMANDU, APRIL 16

The Melamchi River water reached Sundarijal, Kathmandu-based storage system, at around10:00pm on Monday.

The storage facility, which will be filled in the next few days, will start distribution of the water inside Kathmandu valley from April 24.

Melamchi Water Supply Development Board authorities said the water would be sent to the purification centre at Sundarijal in a few days.

The Melamchi River water reached Sundarijal, Kathmandu-based storage system at around 10:00pm last night.

The storage facility, which will be filled in the next few days, will start distribution of the water inside Kathmandu valley from April 24 onwards.

Melamchi Water Supply Development Board authorities said that water was visible at the washing channel last night, which meant that the Melamchi water had arrived at Sundarijal.

The first flow of the water was used to clear possible debris collected inside the tunnel which was closed since June 15 last year.

The water used to clean the tunnel was drained into the Bagmati River, which saw increased water level this morning.

After draining the water into the river, the water was channelled to the storage facility. It will now be sent to the purification centre at Sundarijal in a few days.

The ill-fated Melamchi project came to a halt after coming into operation for around a month.

On the same day MWSDB's authorities closed the main door at the head works, there was massive flooding in the head work area of the project around 30 kilometres uphill of Melamchi Bazaar. Luckily, the closed iron door stopped the debris and mud flowing inside the tunnel.

However, the head work area of around 200 square metres was covered by up by 20 feet high stone pebbles and mud. It was only around a month that the project had started.

The authorities later found it impossible to remove the mountain of debris collected at the head works, especially since the flood had washed away the road and multiple bridges to the head work.

However, engineers and authorities have channelled water inside the tunnel through alternate means by directly flowing the river water into the tunnel. Without proper head works, there remains a threat that floods or debris could easily enter the tunnel further damaging it.

Approximately 23 years after the inauguration of Melamchi Drinking Water Project, authorities had tested the water on 28 March 2021 and Kathmanduites had been able to get water supply to their homes for the first time.

Soon the project had started supplying 170 million litres of water per day. But, it is not sure if the project can operate in the same capacity now.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times