Water Supply from Melamchi to Resume Only After Dashain

The Kathmandu Valley will receive water from the Melamchi Water Supply Project only after Dashain due to high flow of river water caused by continuous rainfall, according to the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board.

The board’s Executive Director Jagnnath Das clarified that they cannot supply water before mid-October as strong monsoon flow has delayed operation.

“The river’s discharge has not decreased. We will resume supply once the flow subsides,” he explained. The project’s headworks were completely destroyed on June 15, 2021, when a massive flood hit the Melamchi River basin, and since then water has been supplied to Kathmandu only during the dry season.

Das noted that heavy rains in recent days have further complicated water diversion. Although the project normally supplies 170–180 million liters of water daily to Kathmandu, the source remains shut, and currently 60–70 million liters per day are being supplied from the Ribarma River instead. “Melamchi water supply was halted since June and we are distributing water from Ribarma River for now,” he added.

The Melamchi Water Supply Project began delivering water at full capacity on March 29, 2022, supplying about 170 million liters a day. However, the floods of June 2021 in the Melamchi and Indrawati rivers caused severe damage, preventing year-round supply to date.

According to Ashok Kumar Paudel, Executive Director of Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), the Kathmandu Valley requires about 430 million liters of water daily, but with Melamchi shut, only 130–140 million liters are being distributed from various alternative sources. -- RSS