96% population in Karnali deprived of pure drinking water

KARNALI: As high as 96 percent of the total population in Karnali Province is deprived of access to safe and pure drinking water.

As per the preliminary result of the National Census-2078 BS, just four percent of the total 1,694,889 population in the province has access to pure drinking water.

Senior Divisional Engineer at Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Gopal Sharma said that 86 percent people in the province are provided with basic supplies of drinking water while six percent of the people are still having no access to basic drinking water supply.

According to Sharma, most of the citizens from the province are forced to drink impure water from open ponds, rivers, rivulets and streams.

“The ministry is working with the target to supply basic water facilities in all 79 local levels,” he added.

In the current fiscal year, the province government has allocated Rs 1.40 billion for drinking water and sanitation.

Likewise, water testing labs have been established in all 10 districts in Karnali, while new projects of water supplies are being implemented from the local and province levels. RSS