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02. October 2011
Nepal
3,500 People Reached

Providing a continuous water supply to the residents of Shivamandir, Nepal

Nepal is a landlocked country high in the Himalayas on the border between India and China. Despite the efforts by many charitable organisations millions of people still have to walk many miles to fetch water to meet their basic needs and over 10,000 children below the age of five die each year from water related illnesses.


In this second “Water for the World” project in Nepal, Borouge together with local pipe producer Hisi Polyethylene Pipe Industry supported the Sushma Koirala Memorial Trust to provide a new water supply to the residents of Shivamandir and their local school.


The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Sujata Koirala, the President of the SKMT and took place in front of representatives of the entire community together with invited guests including Pushp Raj Singhvi, Vice-President and Managing Director of Borouge India.


A solution that saved NZD 2.5 million

Nepal is a landlocked country high in the Himalayas on the border between India and China. The region is rich in history and culture but the economy is heavily dependent upon tourism and water and sanitation remain well below accepted world standards.


Although Nepal has a good rainfall and many rivers the water is rich in minerals and is not suitable for drinking without treatment. According to Water Aid Nepal 14 million people have no access to sanitation and 7.1 million are deprived of safe drinking water. Millions of people still walk on average 6 km each day to fetch water to meet their basic needs and 10,500 children below the age of five die each year from water related illnesses. A number on NGO’s are working in the country to try and improve the situation and one of these is the Sushma Koirala Memorial Trust (SKMT).


The Sushma Koirala Memorial Trust

The Sushma Koirala Memorial Trust was established in 1993 as a charitable, service oriented social organization, which focuses on providing help for underprivileged people in Nepal. The trust is named after the late Sushma Koirala, whose strong determination to reform contemporary Nepalese society was a guiding light for her daughter and founding president of the trust, Sujata Koirala. The trust is very active in sectors such as health and hygiene, drinking water and sanitation and one of the recent drinking water projects undertaken by the SKMT was the Hattikhor Water Supply and Sanitation Project which was supported by Borouge.


Shivamandir water distribution project

This new project was to construct a water supply system for the residents of Shivamandir VDC in Nawalparasi and upgrade the sanitation facilities at the local school. The current population of the district is 2275 but the new scheme was designed to meet the projected 2025 population of 3336 residents with a demand of 45 litres per person per day.


Initially the SKMT organised meetings with the community Water Users Committee to explain the proposed work and describe the main features of the design and gain their commitment to carry out some of the construction work. The initial task was to build a 75 cubic metre concrete water storage reservoir which was done to a large extent by the local people themselves supervised by engineers appointed by the SKMT. From this reservoir PE100 pipework would distribute the water to the individual tap stands and to a smaller storage tank at the school to supply the drinking water and toilet facilities.


The community also did a major part of the installation work although local experts were hired for the jointing of the pipes. The pipes were produced by Hisi Polyethylene Pipe Industry from BorSafe™ HE3490-LS material from Borouge – both material and pipe production were heavily subsidised to keep the project costs manageable for the SKMT. The public tap stands were also constructed by the Water Users Committee who also set up a scheme to collect a monthly payment for the maintenance of the system.


The inauguration ceremony took place in mid June and was presided over by Ms. Sujata Koirala, the President and the driving force behind the SKMT. The ceremony took place in front of representatives of the entire community together with invited guests including Pushp Raj Singhvi, Vice-President and Managing Director of Borouge India.


Concluding comments

In the official report Hari Prasad Dhungana the Executive Director of SKMT thanked Pushp Raj Singhvi and Sharad Sharma, Chairman of HISI Polyethylene Pipe Industry, for their valuable support and personal involvement in the project.


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