Pokhara, August 18

Residents of Pokhara-Lekhnath Metropolitan City have been drinking murky water during monsoon every year for want of water treatment plant for the past 30 years. They have demanded with Nepal Water Corporation to provide them clean drinking water.

Information officer of NWC Dineshwor Yadav said it was not possible to supply purified water immediately, adding that the Japan government had provided Rs 4.41 billion to set up a purification plant in the city and that the project would be only completed in four years.

Water mixed with sand and mud run through as many as 39,000 taps across the city, forcing people to buy water from a private company.

NWC supplies four crore litre water from the Mardi River to locals on a daily basis. The locals, however, have a requirement of five crore litre water. Water brought from Mardi is collected in a tank at Bindhyabasini before distributing it to consumers.