By: Dev Kumar Sunuwar

Kathmandu: Until a year ago, the Jagaruk Mahila Bikash Samuha, a 49-member group of mothers living in the old Newari settlement of Chhusika Tole, one kilometre-east of Patan Durbar Square, had to postpone their monthly meetings by a week because a majority of their active members could not attend as their family members were suffering from one kind of water-borne disease or another.

But, gone are the days. “All the members of the group are attending the meeting as well as all other regular activities, such as the weekly cleaning camps, the adult literacy classes, and fund-raising events,” says Krishna Laxmi Barahi, Chairperson of the group.
According to Barahi, nearly a year ago, the group scheduled a meeting and had an in-depth-discussion with officials from the Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City (LSMC).  While speaking to environmentalists at the meet, the group reached the conclusion that their families were falling ill as a result of drinking and using contaminated water from the only source in the area - the local well.
A group then launched a series of orientation classes, with help from LSMC, UN-HABITAT, Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), and the Urban Environment Management Society (UEMS). During the classes, the various methods of treating water, such as filtering, boiling, SODIS (Solar water disinfection method), and chlorination, were discusses along with ways in which to use it safely. In July this year, six months after the orientation classes began, the LSMC declared the community a safe water zone. At this time, each household had adopted at least one kind of water treating method.
“In previous years, at least a dozen family members were hospitalised every year due to diarrhoea, cholera, and a number of other water-borne diseases, but we have not had a single case this year,” said Barahi.
Chhusika Tole is not only the neighborhood to conduct such orientation classes in the locality for healthy community. Three other mothers’ groups within half a kilometre radius of Lalitpur have taken the same initiative to make their neighborhoods safe drinking water zones. 
“Nobody used to boil, filter or chlorinate water or use the SODIS method. Not surprisingly, at least one member of the household would generally be unwell,” says Krishna Maya Abale, a member of the Nhuja Mapucha, another mothers’ group in Chochhe. Abale adds, “Since declaring our locality a safe water zone nearly six months back, we, our Mothers’ group, have been conducting random checks to the 65-households to ensure that they are using at least one method of water treatment.”
According to a field officer of ENPHO, Bikash Maharjan, taking cue from these four mothers’ group, nearly 94 other mothers’ groups in Lalitpur are also conducting campaigns on water purification in their own localities, with the aim of making them safe drinking water zones.   

Source: The Kathmandu Post, January 31, 2010