Landslide comes in way of water supply project

Birendranagar of Surkhet has been facing acute shortage of drinking water.

Surkhet Valley Drinking Water Consumers' Organization has now been supplying drinking water in taps at consumers' homes on alternate days.

The capital of Karnali Province reels under shortage of drinking water after landslides sweep away the main line of drinking water every year. Landslides have become an additional challenge for drinking water supply in the city which also is under drinking water crisis even in other seasons too.

Chairperson of the Organization, Kulamani Devkota, said problems have surfaced in drinking water supply after landslides damaged other structures of drinking water supply along with the main pipeline each year.

The landslide caused huge damage to the main pipeline this year too, he shared.

"We have been facing a problem in supply of drinking water in Birendranagar since a few days after the landslide damaged the main supply line brought from Jhupra stream," added Devkota.

The landslide on September 18 had swept away a 16 meters pipeline at Birendranagar-13.

It had damaged 300mm DI pipe and other structures at that site. Efforts were underway to bring water by installing a HDPE pipe at that place. Since the main pipe was swept away by the landslide, the Sansthan has made arrangements to supply water to Surkhet Valley from Khursanibari Stream.

“The main transmission line is currently under maintenance. We have made alternative arrangements in absence of the main pipe. We have installed a pipe at Khursanibari Stream to supply water to Surkhet Valley for some days. We have been receiving 50 liters of water per second from the Stream,” he said.

The repair cost of the pipeline that has been supplying 86 liters of water per second is estimated at Rs 500,000, according to Chairperson Devkota. The construction of structures in place of those swept away in landslides would take Rs 500,000 to Rs 700,000 every year.

The pipeline for the drinking water is laid in a sloppy area. Engineer Balaram Tiwari shared that infrastructures in the drinking water project had been damaged yearly due to sloppy structure of the land. It would take a few years to supply water from the new pipeline, he said.