Kathmandu, March 11:

Gone are the days when locals of Faika in Kapan-1 used to face shortage of drinking water. With the locals’ successful effort to supply 275,000 litres of “filtered” water to some 550 households per day by utilising natural water sources at Jhordhara, they are no longer facing water shortage.

In their bid to supply water, locals formed Kapan Jordhara Drinking Water Conservation Organisation and renovated the water sources. They constructed a building and installed water tanks on top of the building and in the basemant. Now, they are storing water in eight tanks, including one in the basement.

The seven building-top tanks can store 80,000 litres of water, while the underground tank can store 500 litres, said Ram Prasad Upadhyay, member of the consumers’ group. Besides the eight tanks, there are two other tanks being used to filter and store water.

The project cost a total of Rs 2,221,204, he informed, adding that the locals collected Rs 800,000 by organising a religious function, saptaha, and they themselves chipped in Rs 1,598,419. The locals have to pay Rs 10,001 for installing taps in their houses and pay Rs 100 a month for consuming water. The total consumption of water reaches 500 litres a day, Upadhyay added.

Initially, only 25 households were benefiting from the water sources. As the population increased, locals dug up the well and installed two pumping machines to propel water to the water tanks, member advisory board of the group KB Marahatta said.

Ghaha Hari Bederi, a local, said that earlier, many residents had faced difficulties to fetch water from stone-water spouts or had to use the tube-well water that contained arsenic. “Now, every house at Faika is getting 500 litres of drinking water a day,”

he added.