Government bodies should pay enough attention to the crucial issue of clean water supply. However, the government seems to have turned a blind eye to regulate the supply of water in Kathmandu valley by private sector.
It is a well-known fact that the valley denizens have to rely on water tankers especially during the dry season. Drinking water becomes so scarce during the dry season that they have to wait for days to get a tanker of water. Given this condition, the first priority of the people is obviously to get the water on time, let alone the quality. It is the government body’s responsibility to ensure water. Sadly, there is no government body in place to monitor the quality of water supplied by private companies. The lack of oversight mechanism—at least to keep track of the number of companies supplying water in the valley—shows the gross negligence on the government’s part.
A recent report of Auditor General has pointed finger at the authority for failing to regulate water tankers. “Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board (KVWSMB)” has not brought all the tankers under the rule,” states the report.
Moreover, the Drinking Water Service Operation Directive 2016 doesn’t seem to have been implemented effectively. The directive has a mandatory provision for privately operated tankers to glue one of three coloured stickers—blue, green and yellow—to specify the quality of water they supply. According to the provision, the blue sticker means completely pure water safe to drink, green sticker means water fit for household use and the yellow sticker means the water for other purposes. The tankers acquiring business licence from KVWSMB should renew their licences every six months. Sadly, many water supplying firms have not complied with the directive.
The report has stated that though around 500 water tankers are in operation in Kathmandu Valley, there is no clear record of their number. It seems, of the tankers, 267 have acquired licence with colour stickers and 156 tankers have paid revenue to get the licence. But all the tankers have not been brought under the rule.
