World Water Day is celebrated every year on March 22 to highlight the importance and necessity of water for human life and progress. Along with celebrating World Water Day, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2018-2028 as the International Decade for Action on "Water for Sustainable Development".

The objectives of the Decade focus on the sustainable development and integrated management of water resources for the achievement of social, economic and environmental objectives and on the implementation and promotion of related programmes and projects, as well as on the furtherance of cooperation and partnership at all levels in order to help and achieve internationally agreed water-related goals and targets. Water is also at the core of sustainable development. It is integral to poverty reduction, public health, economic growth and environmental sustainability.

As a member of the United Nations (UN) and a signatory party to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), World Water Day is an opportune time for the government to raise issues and awareness related to Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). It is also an opportunity to usher hopes and ambitions among people for safe water and sanitation for all at all times.

In 2015, Nepal promulgated a new constitution and adopted a federal system of governance, decentralising the decision making authority into a threetier government – federal, provincial and local. The one federal, seven provincial and 753 local governments provide a higher degree of decentralised authority and responsibility to the local government.

The new constitution has recognised water and sanitation as a fundamental right and has enshrined access to safe drinking water and sanitation for all under article 35(4).

Nepal has made significant headway in covering a large chunk of the population under WASH (wash, sanitation and hygiene) practices. Progress in the WASH sector started gaining momentum after the National Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan was formulated in 2011. Continuing its efforts, the government prepared a 15- year national WASH sector development plan in 2015 to achieve SDG 6 by 2030.

This 15-year plan stipulates that each municipality should create its own 5-10 year WASH plan. The 15th five-year plan (2019/20- 2023/24) has set a target to increase access to basic drinking water from 88 per cent to 99 per cent.

The government has also drafted a WASH Sector Development Plan 2016-2030 in line with the SDG. The development partners, civil society organisations (CSOs), international/national government agencies (I/NGOs) and the private sector have aligned their strategies in line with the government plan.

Their collective efforts have yielded positive results in the WASH sector.

The country was declared an 'open defecation free zone' in 2019. Almost 94 per cent of the population in Nepal has access to basic water supply as per the report of the Department of Drinking Water and Sewerage Management (DWSSM).

The Ministry of Water Supply (MoWS) has developed NWASH, a data apps and collects data, about the existing water supply systems, potential new water supply systems for unserved population, sanitation and hygiene in schools, community and health care facilities, water users' committees, household survey, drainage and waste management aspects

NWASH now has collected data from nearly 50 per cent local governments.

The data is updated regularly in the NWASH dashboard.

The MoWS/DWSSM envision having a georeferenced WASH plan for all municipalities so that the country can know the status of WASH services across the country, so as to help identify the unreached population for basic as well as safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene services and also sustain them.

The results are promising, but achieving SDG-6 and more specifically SDG- 6.1 of attaining universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all is a challenge.

Many communities do not have access to safe drinking water and rely on unsafe water sources for their daily needs. Water quality and affordability are other issues that the people encounter on a day-to-day basis. Although government and non-government agencies have initiated actions to address the issue of safe water, sanitation and hygiene, still synergic efforts are needed to address water quality and affordability issues faced by majority of the population.

There are bottlenecks in the national WASH policies and practices. The representatives and office bearers now have more responsibility for providing WASH services but encounter problems in making strategic plans and policies. In many cases, they have limited information and knowledge on issues related to WASH and also about their roles and responsibilities.

Prioritisation of WASH schemes and implementation of the plans and policies to achieve the goal of SDG-6 is another hurdle.

There is a need to raise awareness of local government representatives and office on the importance of prioritising WASH not only at the local level but also at the national and global level.

They should be capacitated so that they are able to develop a comprehensive WASH plan in line with the national plan and SDG targets. This will enable them to provide safe drinking water to 100 per cent of the population in the municipalities.

Aligning the plans and policies with the national plan and SDG targets will create a reliable data base for NWASH.

This will contribute in developing a robust plan for the required resources and investment in WASH with gender equity and social inclusion.

Conducive WASH policies and plans formulated and implemented since 2011 by the government aided by stakeholders and CSOs are vital to achieve the SDG-6 targets. The capacity of the local governments and resources to deliver basic health, sanitation and drinking water are key to attaining them.

Joshi is a senior programme officer at the Federation of Drinking Water and Sanitation Users Nepal (FEDWASUN)

A version of this article appears in the print on March 31, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.