GWT increases water supply for city of Dharan

Traditionally, our water projects are established in some of the most remote regions of Nepal, piping clean, safe water straight to villagers’ doorsteps. However, the Trust was pleased to recently bring an improved supply of water to the city of Dharan, which has dealt with an acute drinking water shortage for decades.

Dharan is the third most populous city in Nepal, and is home to thousands of serving Gurkhas and Gurkha veterans. With a population of 173,096 and 34,834 households, there is a high demand for water – but since 2003, Dharan residents have faced severe water shortages each year during the dry season. In some areas, people wait for three days to get water in their taps.

The city’s demand for water was estimated at 25 million litres per day against its existing capacity of 16 million litres per day. During the dry season, ten deep tube wells (submersible irrigation pumps) were used to cope with the intense demand, costing the city over £22,000 a month in electricity. Dharan’s Mayor, Harka Raj Rai, emphasised that this was a difficult and unsustainable solution.

The Gurkha Welfare Trust intervenes

To improve the situation in Dharan and provide vital water to its citizens, The Trust funded a one-off programme to increase the city’s existing capacity by four million litres per day. To achieve this, our team established three new stream intakes and four collection chambers, installed one roughing sand filter, built a retaining wall, and installed 2,350 metres of pipeline. The project took just under five months to complete, concluding in July.

“This project has been able to benefit a large number of people,” said Deepak Kumar Shrestha, Programme Director of the Trust’s Resilient Wash and Emergency Preparedness Programme (RWEPP). “Deep tube wells will no longer be required to operate, thus saving NPR 3,000,000 (£19,300) per month in electricity – or NPR 15,000,000 (£96,7oo) over a five month period.”

Our water project concluded on 8 July, and on 12 July an event was held to hand the project over to the Mayor of Dharan.

At the handover ceremony, the Trust’s CEO, Al Howard, spoke to the crowd in Nepali: “The Gurkha Welfare Trust does not usually provide community aid in urban areas. Our aid is usually targeted at the remote communities of Nepal. However, in the case of Dharan, of the 173,000 residents here, 3,400 of them are Gurkha veterans. We had the support from the Board of Trustees to go ahead with the project.

“We were able to complete the project within five months by working together with the Dharan Water Supply Management Board, the ex-Gurkha community, and the Dharan sub-metropolitan city. I am proud to say that this project will have a positive impact in the lives of the residents of Dharan.”

“I am very happy,” said Harka Raj Rai, Mayor of Dharan. “Dharan was facing an acute water shortage. I used to think day and night to figure out a solution to the problem…this has set a milestone in the development of Dharan’s water supply system…I want to thank all the supporters of the Trust. Also [thank you to] the staff and members of the Trust. I have come to learn that the Trust is supported by the UK public, to whom I would like to thank as well…the contribution you have made to fulfil this most basic human necessity is a good deed, ‘Dharma’. This deed is tied to humanity and life. For this, I would like to thank you all from my heart.”

Dharan’s water project in photos

Thanks to our supporters, the GWT has completed another successful water project, which will improve access to safe drinking water and enhance public health for tens of thousands of Dharan’s residents.