Palpa, April 15:

With the onset of summer, water crisis plaguing Tansen municipality, the district headquarters of Palpa, has only aggravated. The situation has arisen mainly because the Tansen Drinking Water Project is virtually in ruins and a scientific water distribution system is not in place to cater to the needs of ever-growing urban population.

As a result, denizens, leaving aside all the household chores, have been compelled to queue up for hours near public taps to get their share of water. The Bhulke water drinking project, which was constructed with the assistance of the Japanese government in 2035 BS, is also in a pathetic condition. “Owing to old, rusty machines, the project has not been able to supply sufficient amount of water to the denizens,” said Bharat Bahadur KC, chief of the Drinking Water Division Office, Palpa.

The denizens of the municipality need 1.7 million litres of water daily, but the municipality has been able to supply a meagre 7,00,000 litres daily to 26,000 people. “We have to spend about five hours every day to fetch water,” said Usha Aryal, a housewife.

Not the lack of sources of water, but mismanagement is to blame for the acute shortage of water, said KC. “Efforts to supply water from Sisne sources are underway,” KC said, adding: “Repair works of the Bhulke Water Drinking Water Project are also going on.”

There is a compulsion to pump water in four different places in Tansen, a hill station. As uninterrupted supply of power is needed to draw water, the municipal office has been compelled to foot the exorbitant power bill.