Domestic Water Consumption in Urban Kathmandu ValleyDemand-side or Supply-side Management?

Mr. Padma Sunder Joshi

Background

Domestic water consumption is influence by several factors. One of the primary factors is the economy and way of living. Human societies have forgotten its water saving culture and ‘enjoying’ water wasting practices with the technological advancement, affordability, and ease in availability. These technologies and the behaviours have been imported without understanding and undertaking the consideration of sustainability. In most cases, unaware decision makers and unfamiliar ‘experts’; and in the absence of basic research and knowledge; prevailing water conserving practices were overlooked and made them ‘civilized’ or ‘advanced’ with water wasting cultures. Making mistake in such decision not only ruins and misuses the resources; it further ruins the behaviour of people.

Planners and designers are using standard figures of water consumption to design water supply systems. With the availability of the resource, comfortable figures with considerable safety factors always keep the designers in safe position. Moreover, high figures might be a lucrative proposal for the construction industries or the suppliers, or even to lending agencies. However, from the resource management side, especially when sharing the resource with other important and competing demands, careful and sensitive decision is expected for efficient and economic use of the resources.

The world trend of replacing economy-centric development by ecology-centric development demands efficient use of water in all walks of life and all aspects of use. This is where we are dealing with rightful distribution of water. Water as a human right, as an economic goods, and water as a luxury item, needs to be dealt separately. Economic tools considering ecological value of water need to be adopted to discourage water wasting practices like Jakujee, bath tubs or similar facilities in residences of Kathmandu. Therefore, estimating

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water consumption in Kathmandu should be looked upon from the resource conservation view-point.

Estimating water consumption in Kathmandu Valley is yet being an issue of discussion among the planners and water managers. Being one of the primary parameters in resource planning and design of water systems, many studies in the past tried to come up with quick figures (perhaps with the excuse of time and resource constraints). The water consumption value which is influenced by several factors; demands thorough study that otherwise lead to uneconomical and inappropriate investments, especially when the country is already implementing ambitious water supply project like Melamchi with the investment of US$ 464 million.In last two decades, several studies have been conducted in various aspects of water and its management; few of them have also estimated the water consumption and its future projection for the Kathmandu Valley. Ironically, the estimation of water consumption varies from one study to other due to different approaches, scopes and coverage of the study. For example, in the report of Binnie & Partners, average per capita water consumption is reported as 145 lpcd1 for full plumbed houses, 92 lpcd for houses with yard tap and 45 lpcd for standpipe users. This sixteen year old study included only six pocket areas of 24-hour supply from Kathmandu (Binnie & Partners et. al., 1988). Another study conducted by Nippon Koei shows that Kathmandu Valley’s average water consumption is 55 lpcd (Kathmandu municipality 43 lpcd & Lalitpur municipality 98 lpcd). This study included only Kathmandu and Lalitpur municipalities (Nippon Koei et. al., 1999). Similarly, SILT & DRTC’s report suggests that municipal areas per capita water consumption is 70 lpcd and 65 lpcd in rural areas (SILT & DRTC, 1999) and RTI’s report states that average water collected by a poor household during rainy season is about 56 litres and 330 litres by a non poor household (RTI 2001). On the other hand the study made by Multi Disciplinary Consultants for ADB in October 2002 concluded that overall per capita water consumption in Kathmandu and Lalitpur municipalities is 59.7 litres (Jha, K.K. 2002).

Table 1 Domestic Water Consumption for Kathmandu Valley in Past

Studies1 lpcd = liter per capita per day

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Study Year

Average Domestic Water Consumption (lpcd)

Binnie & Partners

1988

145 (full plumbing)

92 (yard taps), 45 (standpipe users)

Nippon Koei

1999

55 (average)

43 (Kathmandu municipality)

98 (Lalitpur municipality)

SILT & DRTC

1999

70 (municipal areas)

65 (rural areas)  

RTI 2001   56 (for poor

HH)330 (for non poor HH)

Jha, K. K. 2002

46.5 (Poor), 57.5 (Lower Middle Income Group)

64.9(Middle Income Group), 71 (Upper Middle Income Group)

59.7 lpcd (Overall average domestic water consumption)

These contradicting figures demanded a thorough study of the water need of Kathmandu.

The Survey Design

To come up with domestic water consumption in urban Kathmandu Valley, a study was carried out in August and September of 2003. This recent study named Household Water Use Survey and Research in Urban Kathmandu Valley was solely focused on domestic water consumption. The survey has used Random Sampling (RS) and Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) methods for selecting 300 houses from the five municipalities of Kathmandu Valley. Survey methodology has been designed strategically in order to include houses from all areas of urban Kathmandu Valley. Consumer Survey Map (Silt et. al. 1999) has been used for selecting the primary sampling unit, i.e., house, so that exact location of the selected houses can be identified prior to the field visit saving significant amount of survey time. Although, the reference map does not include houses built in the last five years, location of the house and its additional information became valuable resource as secondary source for different purposes in this study.

The sample size of 300 houses was determined considering the limited time and resources, which represents urban

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Kathmandu Valley with 5.8 % of sampling error. It was expected that each house includes one or more households. Questionnaires were filled for all the households including the additional households and renters separately. For the secondary households or renters, a shorter version of questionnaire was used and some physical information was also gathered from primary household itself.

Apart from the 300 houses from primary survey, additional 60 booster samples were collected, out of which 50 houses were from 24-hours Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) supply area and 10 houses from squatter settlements. The purpose of the booster sampling was to compare water consumption in unconstrained situation. The ten samples of squatters was also incorporated which helped in comparing the water consumption of the poorer strata of the community.

To supplement the survey and check the variation of the results a post survey was designed. Ten houses, out of the 300 randomly selected houses, were selected for the post survey. Here a field supervisor was deputed to collect the records of water consumption of the selected houses for seven consecutive days. Post survey was the tool employed to check the reliability and deviation of the data collected primarily by the enumerators.

The Findings

From the analysis of the collected data, the estimated existing domestic water consumption was 73 lpcd. In this study, all five municipal areas of Kathmandu Valley were incorporated. The 300 houses selected from urban areas of the Valley consist of 431 households (300 primary households and 131 secondary and rented households). In addition, 50 houses were selected from 24-hours supply areas to observe the unconstrained consumption at present scenario and ten houses from squatter settlements were surveyed.

Although the average water consumption for the urban Kathmandu valley was 73 lpcd based on 431 households, the consumption was higher for primary households than secondary and rented households. For the primary households the average water consumption was 80 lpcd and for secondary

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and rented households it was only 46 lpcd. Out of 431 households, 206 (i.e., 48%) households were using yard taps with average water consumption of 41 lpcd and the remaining 225 (i.e., 52%) households were fully plumbed with an average consumption of 99 lpcd. Among 225 fully plumbed households, only 19% were secondary and rented households. Majority of secondary and rented households (67%) were using yard taps. This indicates that the primary households were consuming more water for more facilities than their renters and secondary households.

Table 2 Domestic Water Consumption by Tap Type2

Primary HH (300 HH)Type of Tap

Average domestic water consumption

(lpcd)Number of households

Yard tap3 43 119Full plumbing4 104 182

Total 80 300Secondary/Renter HH (131 HH)Yard tap 38 88Full plumbing 63 43

Total 46 131Total HH (431 HH)

Yard tap 41 206Full plumbing 99 225

Total 73 431

From the fifty booster samples of 24-hour supply houses, the average consumption of the economic groups ranged from 194 lpcd in Bungalow type houses to 61 lpcd in connected houses in narrow lanes. The weighted average domestic consumption in 24-hour supply condition in reference to their economic groupings came to an average of 93.85 lpcd. In squatter area, the water consumption was comparatively lower than other places. Among 10 primary households of squatter, the average water consumption was found only 29 lpcd including the houses with 24-hour supply.

Regarding the sources of water, municipal supply of Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) is the primary source of water in urban Kathmandu Valley. Traditional sources like stone spouts and community wells are still serving the water 2 For 50 HH in 24-hour supply areas.3 Houses having one single tap without overhead tank are considered as yard tap houses.4 Houses having water storing and pumping facilities are considered to be fully plumbed houses.

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demand in many part of the city; especially in the old settlements of the valley. Once forgotten; Lonh Hities (depressed stone spouts) and wells are again explored to meet the water demand after the incapability of NWSC supplying adequate water. Hand pumps (especially rower pumps) and shallow wells became very popular in recent years. Although poor in quality, in most of the places, this is the water used for all purposes other than drinking and cooking. For drinking and cooking purpose NWSC water is preferred in general.

In the survey it was observed that nearly 68% of the total daily water consumption of the urban Kathmandu Valley was contributed by NWSC and the remaining 32% of water was provided by wells, stone spout, and private vendor. Although all 431 households were connected to NWSC, more than 50% of households have more than one source of water to fulfil the demand of water. There were 196 households (45.5%) with only one source of water, of which nearly 90% households were getting water from NWSC as a single source. Regarding the quality and quantity of water provided by NWSC, about 84% users were reported to be satisfied with the quality even though majority of them boil the water for drinking and only 56% users were satisfied with the quantity.

The consumption of water is different from one house to other. The water consumption is greatly affected by various services and facilities available in the house. Therefore, all selected houses were classified into one of four economic classes in order to see the variation in water consumption. The four economic classes were defined on the basis of 12 characteristics of physical assets and facilities of the house. These were - type of tap, land area, kitchen features, toilet features, household facilities, transportation facilities, building type, garden type, type of construction, wall finishing, and roof type. Each criterion of these characteristics was allocated a weight and all weights were accumulated for each of 300 houses. Thus, there were 300 weights corresponding to the

6Economic Class and Water

Consumption

300 houses ranging from 4 to 41. Here, the house with higher weight indicates the better economy compared to other houses. Therefore, all 300 houses were listed in descending order of the weights to categorize the four economic classes such as - Class I containing houses with weights from 32 to 41, Class II containing houses with weights from 23 to 31, Class III containing houses with weights from 13 to 22, and Class IV containing houses with weights from 4 to 12. Then the average water consumption was computed for each of these economic classes, which varies drastically from the highest economic class to the lowest economic class. The higher economic class (i.e., Class I) has an average water consumption of 149 lpcd, and the second higher economic class (i.e., Class II) has 109 lpcd, but the average water consumption was extremely lowered down to 55 lpcd for the third economic class (i.e., Class III) and further lowered down to just 31 lpcd for the fourth economic class (i.e., Class IV).

In the survey it was remarkably noticed that the majority of houses (42%) belong to the third economic class followed by the second economic class with 33% and the fourth economic class with 14%. There were only 11% of houses in the first economic class (i.e., Class I). Thus, the average water consumption of the urban Kathmandu Valley was dominated by the middle two economic classes. However, there is an exclusion of houses built within last five years in the sample selection. The slight improvement in the economic condition certainly raises the average consumption of water of each group.

Conclusions

To quote one figure for present domestic water consumption in urban Kathmandu Valley from the study is 73 lpcd. This figure will be increased as the supply improves. Increasing number of full plumbed houses in recent years also shows the trend to increase water consumption along with other water consuming facilities like attached bathrooms and washing machines. Recent migration of majority of relatively well-to-do people for several reasons in Kathmandu will also increase quantity of water consumption. However, increase in price of water will hinder the consumption if not switch to easily available ground water for auxiliary activities. The figure of

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93.85 lpcd water consumption in the unconstrained supply area of NWSC at present low water tariff showed that it is not the unavailability; more than that; it is economy and culture coupled with facilities available to them.

From the above discussions it is clear that ~94 lpcd of water is sufficient for domestic water consumption in Kathmandu. Since the design of Melamchi Project to supply 145 lpcd may raise several questions from resource management point of view. These are:

1. Over design of the water supply system may introduce water wasting practices.

2. Since the water is diverted from other watershed, it may bring social injustice and conflicts to the ecosystem of next watershed.

3. Unnecessary cost may be incurred in bulk distribution system, treatment facilities, and the distribution. The design of Melamchi Water Supply Project based on 145 lpcd water may be taken as over design.

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REFERENCES

Binnie & Partners et. al. 1988. Water Supply for Kathmandu-Lalitpur from Outside the Valley, Pre-feasibility study - Final Report, HMGN/ Water Supply and Sewerage Corporation/ UNDP/ International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Jha K.K., 2002. Situational Analysis of Water Supply in Greater Kathmandu, Multi Disciplinary Consultants (P) Ltd.

Nippon Koei et. al. 1999. Socio-economic Survey Report on Present Water Use and Living Environment in Kathmandu Valley, Project Management Consultancy for Melamchi Water Supply Project, HMGN/ Asian Development Bank (Loan No. 1640-NEP (SF)).

RTI, 2001. Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Supply for Kathmandu Valley, Nepal - Final Report, Water and Sanitation Program for South Asia.

SILT & DRTC, 1999. Final Report on Consumer Survey: Main Report, Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project (IDA Credit No. 2239 NEP), Nepal Water Supply Corporation (HMGN).

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