Water—Waste Not, Want Not

An article to be published in www.Nepalnews.com:

Water is a vast, yet valuable commodity in the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal. As I trek along the numerous rivers and streams; step over black, narrow water hoses that lead from these natural waterways to outdoor community water stations for washing dishes, clothes, rice, and more; gaze at the irrigated rice fields; and admire the snow covered peaks; I wonder why porters must carry thousands of cases of bottled water up the rocky and dusty paths of the Himalayas. In Kathmandu, I turn on the tap and puzzle over the few drops of water that fall from the faucet (and when it does come out of the tap, there may not be any hot water, but that’s another, yet related story). I hear there is a water shortage in Kathmandu. How can this be, I ask myself, thinking of all the water rushing down the mountains? Looking at statistics on water, I see that 96% of urban residents have access to “improved” drinking water . But I also read statistics showing the population in the Kathmandu Valley has doubled in the past five years. Statistics also show that 89% of rural residents have access to “improved” drinking water , but I’ve witnessed many people hauling water several kilometers from their homes.

The infrastructure was inadequate in Kathmandu before the population doubled. With so much new construction, the wells have been contaminated. In rural Nepal, the infrastructure is substandard or non-existent. The situation is so critical that there is a mandate in the current interim constitution and the proposed constitution to ensure clean water for all individuals in Nepal. Even when the proposed constitution is ratified, it will still be years before this mandate is satisfied.

Meantime, the Nepali have learned how to cope with the situation. Their daily use of safe water in Kathmandu is limited by either insufficient supply from individual wells or from the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL). Americans can, in turn, learn from this as well. What, might you ask, can we learn? We, who have water at our immediate disposal, don’t think about it being a limited resource. As the biggest users, and one might say biggest wasters of water, we should ask ourselves what changes we would make in our daily lives if we had a limited supply of water. There are some simple and easy answers--take shorter and/or less frequent showers, wear clothes again before washing, use fewer dishes at home, switch to water efficient toilets, and store the cold water in a bucket that we generally let run down the tub drain while waiting for the hot water—using it to flush the toilet or wash the floor. Outside, we could collect rainwater to water our plants and shrubs when it’s sunny.

Americans have ready access to clean, safe drinking water, though some choose to buy bottled water. Nepalis do not currently have the option. For drinking water, they must buy it bottled, or filter it. This is an added expense to already meager budgets. Hopefully, the Nepali constitution to be ratified mandates and gives top priority to a safe drinking water policy. But the reality is it will take at least a decade of concentrated work to make this a reality. This would certainly help reduce the work of the porters and the amount of plastic bottles in landfills in Nepal, but those too are other related and important stories.