By: Dhana Khatiwada

Kathmandu: There is lack of enough tankers to supply additional drinking water in the Kathmandu Valley. About 200 tankers are needed to supply water in the Valley but only 160 tankers are available. Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) is not being able to supply drinking water to it consumers either through pipelines or by tankers. So, many private tankers are also in the business of water supply to meet the water demand in the Valley.
 

About 101 private companies are operating about 300 tankers for water supply in the Kathmandu Valley.  President of Valley Drinking Water Tanker Entrepreneurs Association Pradip Prasad Pathak told that the private tanker operators supply water to the consumers by collecting water from Matatirtha, Taudaha, Godavari, Jorpati and Balaju for the drinking quality of water.
"There are some private tanker operators who are not affiliated with the association but supplying water to the consumers. Therefore, the consumers themselves have to be aware whether such tanker supplied water is fit for drinking or not," he added.
President Pathak claimed of supplying water through tankers only after filtering like the KUKL does. However, tanker operators fill water from Godavari in the tankers directly and supply the untreated water to the consumers. When Pathak was asked about this, he claimed that surface water is fit for supplying to the consumers without any treatment.
“Tanker water supplied by KUKL can be consumed directly,” said Surendra Himalaya, chief of Mahankaal, Tanker Branch. However, Pathak does not agree to his statement. “Whoever distributes tanker water, water when in contact with iron should not be consumed without boiling,” he said.
No one is monitoring the quality of tanker supplied water. The government has neither fixed the duration nor standard for operating tanker.

The Kathmandu Valley needs about 280 million litres of water daily but the KUKL has been able to supply only 150 million litres in the rainy season and 100 million litres in the dry season. The private tanker operators have been supplying around 1.8 to 2 million litres of water daily.

Source: Gorkhapatra, June 27, 2009