Kathmandu, March 22

The World Water Day was marked here today by organising different programmes.

The theme for World Water Day this year was ‘Nature for Water — exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges we face in the 21 st century.’

At a workshop jointly organised by Department of Water Supply and Sewerage, Society of Public Health Engineers Nepal and World Health Organisation, participants stressed the need to protect water resources by managing sewages and controlling environmental pollution.

Scientists, conservationists, international delegates and government officials participated in the workshop. They highlighted the dire consequences countries, including Nepal, might face if water resources were not managed properly. They also discussed groundwater depletion, rapid and unplanned urban migration, and melting of glaciers due to pollution.

Secretary at the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation Gajendra Thakur said, “The government is working to undertake wastewater management programmes and set up sewage treatment plant in all the provinces. We are deploying 1,400 of the total 1,800 employees working under the ministry to the provinces for the purpose.”

He also said that the Melamchi tunnel will achieve breakthrough within 15 days and the project would supply water to Kathmandu by mid-July.

WHO representative MdKhursidHyder talked about the relation between health and water. He said, “Like the theme this year, all the solutions to water related problem lies in the nature. Only a well protected ecosystem can maintain the quantity and quality of water available for human consumption.”

According to WHO / UNICEF JMP, around 3.5 million people in Nepal still do not have access to clean drinking water.

According to Demographic and Health Survey Nepal-2016, only 24. 4 per cent of water supply systems are functioning well.

According to Thakur, 87 per cent of total population of the country has access to clean drinking water. It is said that of all the water on the planet, only about two per cent is freshwater. A large portion of this water worldwide has already been contaminated by chemicals, industrial effluents, sewage and fertilisers.