BIRGUNJ, JULY 22

Many places of Birgunj Metropolitan City in Parsa district have been hit with drinking water problems at present.

Prolonged drought and excessive hot temperature (ranging from 40 degree Celsius to 45) have started drying up water springs one after another.

As a result, people residing in wards 12, 6 and 14 of the metropolis are facing acute shortage of drinking water lately.

The hand pumps and taps installed in houses in areas such as Chapkaiya, Minabazar, Biswa, Nagawa, Murli, Tejarath Tole, Pratima Chowk, Brahma Chowk and customs office area, among others, are drying up.

Ladu Prasad Shah of Ward No 12 managed to collect six litres of drinking water from a tube well after walking some five kilometres with a water jar. He shared that he had been fetching water from various major market places since the wee hours today.

'The tube wells are drying up as rainfall has not taken place for long in our locality.

Although I managed to collect some 5 to 6 litres of water today, I am worried how to manage more water for daily use,' Shah said, adding that it took at least 100 to 150 litres of water on a daily basis for his five-member family.

According to him, their top concern lately is about how to sustain with scant water.

Rajesh Gupta of Ward No 6 used to start his day with religious worship after taking a shower regularly in the morning.

He shyly admitted that it had been four days since he bathed due to lack of water.

'The tube well installed at home for drinking water dried up,' shared Gupta, adding that they had been fetching drinking water from a neighbour's house.

Sumitra Devi of Ward No 14 has been catering to the need of drinking water by borrowing from her neighbour. The requirement of drinking water for her 10-member family is huge. 'We need water for cooking food but the tube well is drying up. In such a situation, our top concern is how to cook and how to manage water for other activities amid the water crisis?'

Although there is a problem of drinking water every year during the summer, there has never been such a crisis in a long time, said 75-year-old Shankar Shah Kalwar.

Maya Lama of Ward No 15 said that the scorching heat from morning to the evening had dried up tube wells resulting in problem of drinking water.

'Since water is an essential element for humans, we are suffering a lot because of lack of water,' she said.

Apart from personal residences, the problem of drinking water prevails in schools, private offices and industries in the metropolis. Considering the drinking water problem, the metropolis has been distributing water from water tanker for some time now.

The metropolis has been pumping underground water and collecting it in tankers to distribute to the people, said Laxmi Prasad Poudel, chief administrator in the metropolis.

Furthermore, the metropolis has been coordinating efforts with the Water Supply Corporation and Drinking Water and Sanitation Division Office to permanently address the shortage of drinking water, informed Poudel, adding that the metropolis was tightening the noose against illegal deep water boring, one of the measures to prevent spring of water from drying up.

Niran Maharjan, branch manager at Nepal Water Supply Corporation, said that a plan was afoot to install a public tap in each ward of the metropolis to resolve the drinking water problem.

Pradeep Yadav, parliamentarian elected from Parsa Constituency No 1, had recently drawn the attention of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal towards the drinking water shortage in Birgunj after holding a meeting with him at his office.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 23, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.