Kathmandu, November 16:

The Water Supply Tariff Commission (WSTC), the semi-government authority formed to fix water tariffs, will not allow the government to hike water tariff until quality of drinking water is improved.

“We will not let the government to take any decision on hiking water tariff before water quality will be proved satisfactory,” said Ratna Sansar Shrestha today, a member of the WSTC, addressing an interaction programme on chlorination in drinking water and water quality.

A recent survey of drinking water has shown that amount of chlorine in the Valley’s water is uneven - in some areas it found more than needed, while in other areas no amount of chlorine is detected.

He said apart from scarcity of water, the government should improve the quality of water with the available budget instead of waiting for improving over-all distribution network.

A presentation by the NGO Federation of Urban Water and Sanitation, based on its Free Residual Chlorine (FRC), pointed out that consumers in many parts of the Valley are not getting drinkable water from their taps.

The forum conducted a survey through 105 sampling points in five municipalities of the Valley.

“The drinking water chlorination mechanism of the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) is not enough to supply chlorinated water in all parts of the Valley,” said Prakash Chandra Amatya, the executive director of the NGO Forum, adding that FRC value is not uniform in the same survey report as it differs in different days of a week.

Bhushan Tuladhar, the executive director of Environment and Public Health Organisation, said that chlorination is the best and most efficient method of disinfecting drinking water.

“We should make a strong rule to regularly chlorinate the water being supplied by the government,” he said.

Gautam Bahadur Amatya, the director general of NWSC, said, “Since the distribution network of the Valley is poor, chlorination alone cannot provide drinkable water to consumers.”

Currently consumers are paying Rs 50 for 10,000 litres of water and Rs 10 for 1,000 litres in the Valley. The government increases tariff of drinking water as per the recommendation made by donors.