Kirtipur, May 26:

The Kirtipur Municipality today announced that it will allocate funds on a yearly basis for the conservation of local sources of water in the town.

“We will manage funds for conservation of ponds, water spouts and dug-wells from the next fiscal year,” said Saroj Guragai, the executive officer of the municipality. Guragai was addressing an interaction on traditional sources of water.

Conservation works being carried out in Kirtipur with the participation of the local community will go a long way in ensuring smooth supply of water, he said. Basanta Maharjan, a scholar of archaeology, said, “Kirtipur has been lagging behind in development due to the scarcity of water.”

Citing his studies, Maharjan said that a drinking water distribution system was developed a thousand years ago in Kirtipur. “It is disappointing that many non-government organisations, including the Kirtipur Municipality, are trying to encroach upon dried ponds. Instead of conserving sources of water, they are thinking of constructing municipality buildings or shopping complexes on dried ponds.” According to Maharjan, there are over 20 ponds in the municipality area.

Uttam Raut, an architect, presented an overview of the status of groundwater in Kirtipur.

Conceding that the Nepal Water Supply Corporation has not been able to meet the demand for water, Chandreshowar Jha, an official of the corporation, asked locals of Kirtipur to conserve traditional sources of water.

PS Joshi, vice-chairman of the NGO Forum for Water and Sanitation, said, “Conservation of local sources of water is good, but these sources cannot be taken as an alternative to the Melamchi water project. We need to exploit alternative sources of water, but we cannot say no to the Melamchi project itself. We are only demanding that a right company be given the task of handling water distribution system of the valley.”