Melamchi water supply to Valley suspended over monsoon hazards

KATHMANDU: The Melamchi Water Supply Board has suspended the water supply from the Melamchi River in Sindhupalchowk to the Kathmandu Valley beginning today.

Board Executive Director Ratna Lamichhane said that with the flood in the river, it turned murky, leading to the closure of the water supply to the Valley. The supply will be restored once the rain thwarts.

Though earlier, the Board had planned to halt the supply from June 13, the schedule was postponed as no significant rains occurred amidst this. Later, the Board also prepared for closing the project last Friday and the supplies continued as water flow in the river did not increase as it was estimated, it is said

The government regularizes the water supplies from Melamchi during the monsoon bearing in mind its possible consequences on its headworks and other structures.

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, this year monsoon entered the country on June 10, three days earlier than the tentative date and generally exits on October 2.

The Project management consultants and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) were advising the Board to halt the supplies to save the project’s structures from the monsoon-related hazards. “We decided to close it after the river waters turned muddy.”