KATHMANDU – – Nepal relies heavily on imports from India for its essential supplies including fuel and medicine. The country imports the bleaching powder necessary to cleanse water from India.
According to Kathmandu Upatakya Khanepani Limited, Nepal imports the bleaching from India alone. No other alternative arrangement has been sought so far.
Nepal has been importing around 250 tonnes of bleaching power annually from India, said Upatakya Khanepani Limited Spokesperson Suresh Acharya. Traders are importing the chlorine power only from India because it will expensive to buy from any other countries. “We haven’t been able to import from any other countries,” he said. “That’s why there is monopoly of India.”
He says though Nepal is completely dependent on India for its import of bleaching powder, it hadn’t been a problem during the border blockade imposed by India in 2015. “We always have the stock of bleaching power for at least three months, which is way we weren’t affected during the blockade at borders.”
Bleaching power is used as disinfectant and germicide to purify the water.
It is used mostly to treat the muddy water, says Acharya. Kathmandu Upatakya Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has been using the bleaching powder according to the World Health Organization (WHO) standard.
An estimated 140million liters of water is supplied daily in Kathmandu Valley though the demand for water is 280 liters per day. Apart from the water supplied by KUKL, the valley residents have also been getting water from alternatives sources including jar, tanker, underground and stone-spout.
Bleaching and chlorine are used in Nepal to purify the water. According to government officials, some of the drinking water projects in Nepal have not been using bleaching and chlorine in order to purify the water. The use of such waters have been causing health problems.
However, the government bodies are not prepared for an alternative way to get the bleaching powder, which has become a daily need, in case of another economic blockade similar to the one imposed in 2015. Though they are aware about the possible problems, they haven’t paid necessary attention to resolve the problems.
The government bodies don’t have any data about the daily need of bleaching powder. Experts say it is necessary to conduct studies and research about the possibility of producing the power in Nepal.
Government officials say Nepal government should think of alternative ways to meet the demands of daily essentials, instead of relying on foreign countries.
