What’s Fixed

Lalitpur, January 15:

After the piped water supply failed to meet increasing demand of water in the Valley, locals in several places have turned to traditional water sources. A number of stone spouts and wells were built and their peripheries have been renovated in the past few years.

A project for stone spouts and wells has got underway in Nagbahal hiti, Lalitpur-16, which remained neglected for more than a decade. Earlier, water supply from pipelines used to be regular and five stone spouts had erratic flow of water. The area will soon depend on its own water resource.

The US Ambassador’s Fund Cultural Preservation Awards for 2006 selected some historic spouts for renovation and preservation. Out of 76 countries, seven countries having historic and cultural importance were selected for their cultural preservation and Nepal is one of them, said Dilip Joshi, president of the Nagbahal Hiti Users’ Committee.

A total of Rs 3.23 million has been allocated for the project, led by Jharna Joshi, the project director. But the project has not allocated money for its members.

“Under the first phase of the project, construction of the drainage system and supply lines has been completed. The square and staircases have been paved with bricks,” said Joshi.

Who fixed it

Especially, women and children spent a lot of time to fetch water from nearby wells and stone spouts. Locals also bought waters from tankers. Now, some 66 households are waiting for the completion of the project, which will provide them independent water sources. After this phase, water quality testing, water storage tank and ground water recharging would also be set up. Excavation work to locate the source of water spouts is also being carried out. To locate the main water source, we are digging up manholes 50 metres apart. Seven manholes have been renovated and bio-sand filter has also been set up.

-Dilip Joshi

If you have anything broken or fixed in your neighbourhood, please inform us at thtwatch@thehimalayantimes.com