Kathmandu: Department of Water Supply and Sewerage, UN-HABITAT and the Coca-Cola Company jointly launched ' Partnership for Safe Water' campaign with a view to promote simple household water treatment (HWT) option in urban and sub-urban communities so as to improve access to safe water and reduce diarrhoeal diseases.

The campaign would motivate to generate awareness about the use of available methods for safe water treatment. Piyush, aquatabs (chlorine tablet), Sodis technology, solvent technology and colloidal silver methods are available for water treatment.
Secretary for Ministry of Physical Planning and works Purna Kaderiya said the campaign would contribute to achieve the millennium development goals. The government is ready to extend all kinds of support for any campaign, partnership, coordination to address the problems, he added. There has been significant improvement in the supply of drinking water. The scientific methods of water treatment being carried out have been benefiting the poor, he said.
Chief Technical Advisor of UN-HABITAT, Roshan Raj Shrestha said that water borne diseases is caused by contaminated drinking water and poor hygiene and sanitation. More than 13,000 children under five die every year due to contaminated water and above 10 million people are suffering from water borne diseases, he said. He added that these diarrhoeal diseases can be reduced by 39 per cent by simply increasing access to safe drinking water.
He said that chlorination, filtration, boiling and solar water disinfection (SODIS) can be an effective solution for ensuring that all people have access to safe water. He said, 'We are extending that partnership to the corporate world. Together with their management expertise and our resource capabilities, we hope to make a bigger impact.'
Prafulla Man Singh Pradhan, Habitat Programme Manager UN-HABITAT said that this unique partnership between public and private sector would work on improving both the demands and supply of various HWT options so that the general public can have better access to those options. He added that the campaign would support producers of HWT options in expanding their distribution network and raise the demand for these options through social marketing.
Vice president of Coca-Cola Company, Deepak Jolly said that water is fundamental to all communities and they understand that business thrives only amidst vibrant and sustainable societies. They are excited about working with UN-HABITAT, Government of Nepal, local institutions, NGOs and producers of the HWT options to ensure that the local communities have improved access to safe water, which also improves the overall standard of living in communities, he said. They expect to generate awareness on the HWT options among 1.5 million people and more than 100,000 people will receive orientation on the use of HWT options.

Source: The Rising Nepal; The Himalayan Times; Kantipur; Nepal Samacharpatra; Annapurna Post, March 10; Gorkhapatra, March 11, 2008