March 22, World Water Day; the annual UN initiative to draw attention to the importance of water and to emphasize sustainable management of fresh water.
We're in Kathmandu right now, preparing our Cho Oyu project, to visit local organizations, partners and preparing our upcomming trip to Nangpa La and the downstream area of Cho Oyu and it's water projects. While reading the local papers (Kathmandu Post) the following 'Water Day' story was published on the cover (summary)
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BEWARE OF WATER YOU DRINK
The drinking water supplied in most parts of Kathmandu (capital of Nepal) is unsafe for consumption due to high levels of contamination with biological pollutants, including harmful bacteria (like E coli) and viruses that cause various waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery. Also the levels of harmful chemicals (like iron, ammonia, arsnic, mercury) are high.
Out of 39 samples of bottled mineral water collected from different places in Kathmandu, 28 samples were found to be contaminated. More than 72% of the sampled mineral water was found unsafe for drinking.
They also mentioned that lack of quality drinking water and proper sanitation facilities in the country are to blame for more than 80% of the diseases.
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Sanitation is a huge problem in this region! So is the availability of water in the first place. Now it's common knowledge that water from all streams, rivers, lakes, etc in Nepal are not safe to drink as they are all contaminated. So, There is a shortage of water, the water which is available is not safe and now even bottled water has been proven not to be safe...
There's still a lot of work to do here...
