Water from Melamchi to be available for Holi, what time is it reaching homes of the general public?

KATHMANDU: After having to wait for more than two decades, water from Melamchi is being distributed to the houses of Kathmandu Valley residents from today.

According to the Melamchi Project, 40 million litres of water will be distributed on the first day as a test. For the time being, the project is supplying water to all streams through the distribution system of Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL).

The project implementation directorate has informed that the distribution, which was scheduled to begin from 8 AM this morning, has been postponed for some time due to a lack of electricity supply in the Sundarijal area. 

“We were planning to release water at 8 in the morning. However, there is no electricity in the Sundarijal area since last night. NEA has informed that it should be back by 9 AM,” Chief of the Directorate Kamal Raj Shrestha told Nepal Press, ”We will start sending water from Sundarijal after 11 AM, water will start flowing to the homes of the general public after 2 PM.” 

Even though water is being distributed as a trial, the official inauguration of the project will take place in a few days. Though President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has said that it will be inaugurated, the date has not been announced yet. A public tap is being constructed in Sundhara for the inauguration.

The total capacity of the Melamchi Project is 170 million litres. It will take about 20 days to distribute water at full capacity. Although the water is initially provided through the old distribution system, it will be distributed through the new system after the completion of testing of all the reserve tanks in the valley.

The Project is preparing to supply water to all the streams in the valley daily.

The Melamchi Project started in the fiscal year 2055/56. The Melamchi Project, which has gone through various ups and downs since then, reached the stage of completion only in 2077 BS. The water of Melamchi was discharged into Sundarijal last month through a 26-kilometre tunnel.