Tanahun, October 6:

The people of Damauli have been facing an acute shortage of water for two days.

The situation arose as the pipeline which used to bring water from the Gunadi water source at Jamune VDC to Damauli got damaged at Chapaghat of Byas Municipality-8. “Though we repaired the pipe on Wednesday, it again burst yesterday,” a sanitation technician of the municipality, Tek Bahadur Sinjali, said, ruling out the possibility of supplying water unless the pipe was repaired.

Sinjali said that drinking water is stored in two tanks having storage capacities of 250 cubic metres and 500 cubic metres. Prior to the damage, water used to be distributed twice daily — in the morning and in the evening — in Damauli. “There are altogether 1,785 private water taps in ward numbers 2, 10 and 11 of the municipality. The water stored in the tanks is enough for just 1,500 taps,” workers of the municipality said. There are no public water taps in the municipality area.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Hotel Entrepreneurs’ Association of Tanahun, Raj Kumar Shrestha, said the hotel industry is suffering due to the shortage of water. Depot chief of the Dairy Products Cooperative Association of Tanahun, Surya Kanta Mishra, also said that the dairy industry is reeling under the water shortage. As the water supply system has gone haywire, Damauli residents have been compelled to fetch water from Seti, Madi, Buhadi and Sane rivers.