The mercury in the capital has been hovering around 31C for the last few days. The Weather Forecasting Division sees even hotter days ahead with no rainfall in the next few weeks. Water levels of major sources of potable water for Kathmandu Valley have gone down appreciably — the volume of piped water now down to 91 million litres when the Valley needs a minimum of 220 million litres. There seems to be no hope of immediate respite. The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), the sole water supply body in the Valley, predicts the shortage to continue for over a month.

Even though groundwater makes for 55 per cent of piped water, the drying up of surface water has hit Kathmandu residents hard. KUKL has promised “long-term plans to minimise water woes in the capital” in the upcoming fiscal year. However, it is far from clear what those plans are. The echoes of former PM KP Bhattarai promising to “flood” Kathmandu with Melamchi water still taunts the households forced to make do for a week with a day’s supply of water. The failure of the political leadership to set specific targets has continued to bedevil the drinking water sector. Until concrete plans backed by political resolve are implemented soon, the hapless Valley residents will have to continue to live with a long period of acute water shortage.