Answer:
Explanation:
There is an ongoing water crisis in Nepal’s urban areas, and it is mainly man-made. From 2000 to 2012, Nepal’s urban population with access to improved water source suffered a continuous and outstanding drop from 94.2 percent to 90.3 percent.
The 4 percent drop is exceptional and alarming. At certain core city areas, the dissolved oxygen (DO) levels were even below 1mg/l, which showed that the water was anoxic and poisonous for aquatic lives. According to the public health department of Nepal, 3,500 children die per year due to water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and skin diseases.
In fact, during the same period, Nepal’s Gross National Income per capita tripled from $230 to $700, and its urban population with access to improved sanitation facilities increased from 41.9 percent to 51.2 percent. But, why do its urban residents have less and less drinkable water?
Dirty water
A factor behind the prevailing situation might be Nepal’s fast growing urban population, which increased from 13.4 percent in 2000 to 17.5 percent in 2012. In past years, Nepal’s urbanisation rate of 2.03 percent was much higher than the global average of 0.9 percent. Urban population in the Kathmandu Valley accounted for 60 percent, and there was a fast-paced population growth in the valley with a 4.3 percent annual growth rate on average from 1991 to 2011.
However, the more profound reason for lack of clean water is pollution. Latest research shows that urban drinking water sources in Nepal, even including water reservoirs with treatment plants, are heavily contaminated with faecal coliform and other bacteria.
(https://kathmandupost.com/opinion/2016/09/29/urban-water-crisis)
