Universal Access to Sanitation and Drinking Water for all by 2017 AD

This is an appeal posted by Water Aid on May 2011 to people's representatives, politicians, policy-makers and government officials.

Taking Commitments Seriously:
The government of Nepal has committed itself to ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation for all in Nepal by 2017 and meet the MDGs to have 73% water coverage and 53% sanitation coverage by 2015.


Taking Rights Seriously:
UN General Assembly (2010) stated that access to sanitation and safe drinking water is a part of human rights. Nepal has also placed its own act, standard and policy for water and sanitation.

According to the Government of Nepal's Water Resource Act 1992 (2049 BS), the right to use water for drinking purposes overrides the right of use of same water for any other (irrigation/commercial) purposes.

Similarly, the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation National Policy (2004) recognizes sanitation as an integral part of drinking water projects and programs which directs GoN to spend 20% of the water and sanitation budget on sanitation.

Taking Nepal's Situation on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Seriously:
The present scenario of Nepal on WASH is a matter of serious concern. According to Water Aid Nepal (2009), it is estimated that every year 10,500 children die in Nepal due to water and sanitation related diseases. The data of DWSS (2010) and CBS (2009) pointed out that 5.6 million Nepalis (around 20% of the population) do not have any access to safe drinking water.

Due to the lack of toilets 16 million Nepalis (around 57% of the population) practice open defecation everyday (Nepal MDG progress report 2010, GoN and UNDP and CBS, 2009). Even in schools there is a lack of toilet facilities. It is found that only 41% of public and community schools in Nepal have toilet facilities. Among these, only one in four schools has separate toilets for girl students.


According to the study conducted by Ministry of Health and Population (2006) in its report 'Equity in Health', it has been estimated that 14 million Nepalis (around 37% of the total population) wash their hands with water after defecation. Among these, only about 12% (3.4 million) wash with soap.

Overall, it has been estimated that Nepal needs an annual investment of NRs. 7.5 billion (USD 108 million) to meet the national goal of providing everyone with safe drinking water and sanitation facilities by 2017 (Sector Financing Study, WaterAid Nepal, 2008 and Red Book, Ministry of Finance, 2009).

Serious Benefits that Contribute to Nepal's Development:
Various studies have calculated the benefit to Nepal's development due to investments in WASH. According to UK DFID study, gender-friendly toilet facilities at schools could increase the enrollment of girl students by 11%.

Even simple hand-washing practices could prevent diarrheal outbreak by 45% (Fatal Neglect Report, WaterAid, 2009). Hence it has been estimated that the economic returns - in terms of health, education and livelihood benefits- from every dollar invested on water and sanitation are worth about nine US dollars (WHO 2008. Sanitation generates economic benefits, Fact Sheet).

School Led Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement in Mid-Western Areas of Nepal

Access to safe water and sustainable sanitation is a major challenge in Nepal. Although more than 80% of the people now have access to drinking water, water supplies in rural areas are contaminated. As for sanitation, Government of Nepal estimates that only 46% of the people have access to basic sanitation. Lack of safe
drinking water, poor sanitation and hygiene are the major causes of morbidity and mortality, particularly among young children. The situation is particularly bad, in the mid-western region of Nepal where only 22% of the households in the region have access to toilets and 78.3% water supply coverage. But people are compelled to collect water from the available sources regardless of quality during rainy season.


Drinking water supply schemes in proposed areas use open and unprotected surface sources likely to be contaminated anytime. The poor situation of sanitation and health in the region was exposed in 2009 when a cholera epidemic claimed the lives of more than 300 people.

ENPHO in collaboration with USAID, EAWAG and RMSO has been implementing the project in five selected VDCs (Ramghat, Kalyan, Mehalkuna, Sahare, Kaprichaur) of Surkhet district and ward no. 1, 2 and 11 of Birendranagar Municipality. The project’s goal is to improve the health and well- being of poor people in midwestern Nepal targeting to project areas through an integrated approach that improves access to safe water,
sanitation and hygiene in a sustainable manner. Initially the project coordinated with several WASH stakeholders through launching of regional WASH resource centre and district level launching program to aware them about the project activities and for further collaboration. ENPHO has established field office at Jahare, ward.no. 3, Maintada VDC and has recruited 14 field staffs. Altogether 17 field staffs were provided 5 days Training of trainers (ToT). Press conference on SODIS was held with 12 journalists and in a total interaction was done with 14 representatives from education sector on how to incorporate detail message of SODIS in the existing curriculum.

Altogether 4 VWASHCC has been formed in the project areas through combined initiation of VDC/DDO/ENPHO. ENPHO has also celebrated National Sanitation week -2067 in close collaboration with DWASHCC where 34 students have participated in essay competition and folk song on WASH was also organized. Baseline survey was done in 937 households to find out the knowledge, attitude and practice of existing WASH situation of project area.

Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) was conducted in 57 clusters where 1133 people were made on WASH issues and project activities. An issue related to gender was also collected from the project areas where interaction was done with local people of 55 clusters. It was found that most of the female members are engaged in household activities with more focus on health and hygiene condition whereas male members are active in decision making process. One day orientation training on “Rapid
Response and Hygiene Promotion” was conducted to 30 youths from project areas to sensitize them about WASH issues and make them prepare for immediate emergency.

Baseline survey was conducted in 55 schools of 5 VDCs in Surkhet district where the total number of students is 13478. The main drinking water source is water supply (29.09%) followed with temporary pipeline (21.82%)and 16.36% depend upon river. It has been found that although 46 schools have toilet, 33 schools need renovation and improvement activities in sanitation facilities. Only 7 schools have hand-washing station. The most challenging factor is scarcity of water. Altogether 9787 households are situated in the periphery of catchment area where 40% HHs have toilet.

The project area consists of 1 health post and 4 sub-health posts with 124 FCHVs. The main source of drinking water is tap, spring and river. Out of five health centres, four health centres has adopted filtration as water treatment method. The condition of toilets in Ramghat, Kalyan and Kaprichaur SHP is good. But the toilets of Mehelkuna HP and Sahare SHP need immediate improvement. Only one SHP namely Sahare has water facility in the toilet, hand-washing station with soap. But all these facilities were not present in Kaprichaur SHP.

Although Kalyan SHP has water and hand-washing facility, there was no soap at the station. In an average, it was found that there is an increase in diarrhoeal cases in Ashad, Shrawan, Chaitra and Baiskah. It was assumed that the main cause of diarrhoea was due to contaminated water, dirty food and negligence in personal hygiene practices.


Several issues like different subsidy rate for toilet construction, demand of water supply, lack of safe hygiene behaviour, use of safe drinking water during disaster and lack of coordination among WASH stakeholders were identified.

Source: Su-SWASTHA (2011)Semi-Annual Report 2011. ENPHO.

Promoting Sulav Toilets

The SWASHTHA project (2009-2012) is implemented in seven municipalities - Bharatpur, Butwal, Gularia, Tikapur, Siddharthanagar, Ramgram and Ratnanagar and three small towns - Sunawal, Bardaghat and Kawasoti with the financial support of the EU, UN-HABITAT and ISLE of Man Gov, UK. The implementing partners are Practical Action Nepal, Environment and Public Health Organization and Municipal Association of Nepal. One of the success stories on promoting Sulav Toilets with only 3000 subsidy to poor communities has been presented by the project.


Mr. Nanda Lal BK (58) from Thimura, Chitwan shares his experience with us. He used to have one temporary toilet covered with jute sack in their paddy field and he shared his difficulties especially during monsoon season. Nandalal says, 'We used to get drenched during monsoon while using the toilet and it was more difficult in the night. We were also scared of the snakes'.

With the support from the SWASHTHA project, Nandalal and his family members constructed the toilet on their own using locally available raw materials like bamboo, straw, sand, stone and aggregate. The project assisted him with four rings, a cover and a fitting material, which is about 35% of the total cost of his new toilet.

With a relief on his face, Nandalal says, 'We do not have to worry about rain and snake anymore. We now have a permanent toilet. This has made our life much easier especially for the women and children.' Expressing his gratitude to SWASHTHA project, he added, 'Toilet construction has given me moral support and I can proudly advocate the use and benefits of it in my community.'