KATHMANDU, JANUARY 25
The government has drafted the Water Supply and Sanitation National Policy-2022 with the vision of ‘building clean and prosperous society and pollution-free environment through safe, accessible, and easy water supply and sanitation services’.
The draft policy, which was recently published on the basis of feedbacks and suggestions from the stakeholders and general public, has set five goals. They include ensuring the citizens’ right to safe drinking water and sanitation, providing citizens with services stated in the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, protecting and expanding water sources through coordinated efforts, using innovative technologies and models in the area of water supply and sanitation, and maintaining environment cleanliness through proper management of human-produced waste.
As of now, only 85 per cent of the total population has access to basic water supply services and 62 per cent has access to basic sanitation facilities.
The draft policy proposes to adopt the issues of protection and development of water sources as an integral part of construction and operation of projects. “Legal provisions will be made for development, use, physical protection and quality improvement of water resources. Data will be managed by conducting flow measurement and quality testing of water sources on a regular basis,” it says.
The draft policy also envisions maintaining greenery in the surrounding areas of water sources to prevent their pollution.
As per the draft policy, watersheds will be identified in urban areas for their special protection to ensure that they are properly utilised for water supply. Similarly, the use of groundwater will be monitored and regulated in urban and sensitive areas, while making legal provisions for their pollution control. “Provision will be made requiring the local levels to spend certain amount of budget received from the federal government in the area of water supply,” it reads.
In addition, the draft policy proposes to construct and recharge ponds and protect the natural landscape by protecting traditional ponds, stone spouts and springs. Multi-purpose use of water, rainwater harvesting and storage are among other priority.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 26, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.