MORANG: Locals of Madhumalla VDC in eastern Morang are facing shortage of clean drinking water. The locals have no alternative but to drink water from the nearby stream, Nunsari, which is used for irrigating the fields. People of ward no 1 and 2 of Madhumalla VDC have not been affected as they use water pumps and tube wells to draw water. However, some 300 households of ward no 3 are forced to drink water directly from the Nunsari stream. Santosh Gautam, a local from Madhumalla-3 said, “Those who have filters can filter their water. But those who can’t afford them are directly drinking the water from the stream.” Another local Tek Bahadur Poudel said that they had to drink the water from the stream seven months a year, adding that the villagers suffered from various ailments due to drinking the impure water. Kishor Chaudhari, chief at Madhumalla Health Post said that children form ward 3 of Madhumalla VDC reporting to the health post for diseases such as dysentery and fever were more compared to the other wards. We are sometime compelled to take our children to Dharan, Biratnagar and Damak for treatment due to the inadequate health facilities in the VDC,” Pabitra Baral, a local said. “Though the stream water is clean in winter season, it becomes filthy in monsoon,” Lal Bahadur Bohara, chairman of Madhumalla Drinking Water and Sanitation Consumers Committee said. “We have, however, restricted the locals to bathe, wash clothes and decompose garbage in the stream,” he said. “We have to walk two hours to reach Madhumalla bazaar to fetch safe drinking water,” he added. The District Drinking Water Office had built water tanks five kilometres north of the village. However, they were swept away by the stream during the monsoon as the stream had swollen up. The taps installed in some 200 houses are also not functioning these days, locals complained. They said that they had to face such problems as the Drinking Water and Sanitation Division Office had initiated such works without carrying out any study or survey.