Serving to Non-served - Is this a really a challenge ?

Ms Chandra Kala B.K aged 65 expressed her happiness over knowing that water will soon reach to her door step. Ms. Chandra Kala has been carrying water ever since her childhood at the age of 6 for about  five to six trips daily. Ms. Chandra Kala laments “Wherever we go our fate is with us, being the member of poor family". She continued that "we would lwant to spent the rest of our life in this village even when facing hardship." 

Photo: Chandra Kala BK at left, together with the other users and Water Users Committee members.

Arlangkot VDC is one of the remote VDCs of Gulmi district. About  50 Dalit households of Urleni, ward No. 9 are compelled to walk for more than an hour down to  reach the water collection point. This is where the earlier Finnish supported project in early 1990s constructed a  water collection tank with two taps in. If this tank would not have been constructed they had to walk further another an hour more to reach the water source.  Due to  water scarcity and geographically challenged situation many households are moving down to plain areas. This year only out of the total 50 households 15 households migrated to plain area. 

Photo: Urleni ward 9, Gulmi district

The latest data (NMIP 2014) indicate that the national water supply coverage has reached to 83.59 p%. This figure may include also Urleni even if the true access to safe drinking water is a far cry for many communities like this one. They are covered only in paper.

Coverage figures alone can give a false impression as they do not adequately represent service levels related to quality, accessibility, quantity, reliability and sustainability. The hidden facts within these figures are enormous inequalities among ecological regions, by urban/rural divides and by ethnicity.

The proposed Kunako Khoriya water lifting scheme of Urleni ward 9 is a kind of light at the end of  tunnel for this community. This scheme is going to be constructed with the financial support of RWSSP-WN II, District and Village Development Committee contributions and 19 % percent community cash and kind. 

Total cost of the scheme comes around NPR 3,300,000 covering 35 households. There are still challenges ahead as the monthly payment of electricity bill alone is likely to come around NPR 400 per household; including pump operators salary and operation and maintenance cost it goes upto NPR 800.