Lalitpur, January 16:

Participants in a two-day national workshop today said rainwater harvesting could solve much of the water problem in the country.

The workshop was jointly organised by the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, the NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation, the Municipal Association of Nepal, the Water Aid Nepal and the UN-HABITAT.

At the workshop, the NGO Forum, issuing a ‘call for action’, called on all the lead actors including the authorities and the people to take immediate steps to mitigate water crisis. According to the forum, the Kathmandu Valley is supplied with only 30 per cent of the water demand. This has affected public health, it said.

Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works Janak Raj Joshi expressed commitment to include rooftop rainwater harvesting in the urban development policy.

National Planning Commission member Rajendra Suwal said the commission would incorporate rainwater harvesting into urban sector development plans.

Experts said rainwater, the primary source of water on earth, is being neglected. They claimed that over-extraction of groundwater has led to depletion of water table beyond its recharging capacity in many areas leading to water quality degradation, land subsidence and receding of river beds.

In Nepal, five river basins contribute 71 per cent of the annual flow during the dry season and 40 per cent in the monsoon. Monsoon sees 80 per cent of the total annual rainfall. The organisers expect to generate awareness among all stakeholders, especially policy makers, on the potential and viability of rainwater harvesting as a decentralised approach towards mitigating water crisis in the nation.

The participants in the workshop were taken to Swornim School at Swoyambhu and the Kamaladi office of the Nepal Drinking Water Supply Corporation where they observed rainwater harvesting plants and received detail information about the technology.