DHULIKHEL DRINKING WATER SUPPLY PROJECT

1. INTRODUCTION

Dhulikhel drinking water supply project is located at Dhulikhel Municipality,Karve in
Nepal. The project site is at 20 km east of Kathmandu City. The project was established under
Government Agency of Nepal with financial and technical assistance from the Government of
Germany (GTZ) with motto of SAFE DRINKING WATER FOR HEALTHY LIFE .The local
Municipal Office provided the support during the planning, construction, and O&M phases of the
project as well.

The project started in 1989 as a component of Dhulikhel Development Project, and
completed in 1994. The water supply scheme fulfills about 80% of the water demand of the town
through 605 private and 22 public taps. Before its implementation, people used localized springs
and streams as their drinking water sources. Scarce water quality was a main cause of poor health
among the water users. The Mayor took the leadership in advocating the importance of and need
for safe drinking water for better health and improved sanitary conditions. The project was
designed for full treatment of water with sedimentation, sand filter and chlorination facilities
incorporated to the system. The users seriously questioned the projects cost, but once they
understood the importance of safe water the project was well accepted. The system is now fully
managed by a Users Committee of ten members including the Mayor. All the decisions regarding
operation and management are entirely made by the Committee. A civil engineer with
subordinate staff was recruited as a technical unit to look after all the technical matters.

Location Municipality of Dhulikhel, Nepal (20 km east of Kathmandu City).
Responsible
Organisation
Government Agency of Nepal with financial and technical assistance
from the Government of Germany (GTZ). The local Municipal Office
provided the support during the planning, construction, and O&M
phases of the project.
Description The project started in 1989 as a component of Dhulikhel Development
Project, and completed in 1994. The water supply scheme fulfills
about 80% of the water demand of the town through 605 private and
22 public taps. Before its implementation, people used localized
springs and streams as their drinking water sources. Scarce water
quality was a main cause of poor health among the water users. The
Mayor took the leadership in advocating the importance of and need
for safe drinking water for better health and improved sanitary
conditions. The project was designed for full treatment of water with
sedimentation, sand filter and chlorination facilities incorporated to the
system. The users seriously questioned the projects cost, but once
they understood the importance of safe water the project was well
accepted. The system is now fully managed by a Users Committee of
ten members including the Mayor. All the decisions regarding
operation and management are entirely made by the Committee. A
civil engineer with subordinate staff was recruited as a technical unit
to look after all the technical matters.
Issues
Addressed
Health, Capacity Building.
Results Managerial, technical, and financial capacity building at local level
Achieved were successfully developed. Better services to the users increased
their willingness to contribute and further support the plan for
recovering both capital and operation costs.
The service provides 24 hours supply. The percentages of the
leakage and wastage in the system are kept below 10 percent.
Reduction of water-borne diseases and of time spent by women and
girl-children on water collection, allow them to use that time for other
productive purposes and for taking better care of the children. As safe
water is adequately available household sanitation conditions have
been improved.
The success of the water system opened avenues for the Water
Users Committee to venture into other developmental and social
activities like promotion of sanitation, solid waste disposal,
establishment of a nursing home, establishment of schools and
colleges, etc. and ultimately the extension of such services to the
adjoining areas.
Lessons
Learned
Partnership between the users, the municipality, the government
agency and the donor was key in implementation of the project.
Involvement of the beneficiary communities from the very beginning of
the project to the completion stage, and carrying out the related
measures of capacity building to enable the committee of local users,
have given very fruitful results in implementing and managing medium
sized projects like the ones at Dhulikhel, Kakarbhitta, Damak and
Sanischare.
The introduction of a policy of supporting such projects with initial
financial support for the first three years maximum in a declining
manner, attracted the water users committee to come forward and
take over the operation and management of the systems.
Despite a general belief that is the Governments obligation to provide
water free of charges, the community organizations were able to
persuade the users to pay for the services from the public stand-posts
and convert them into metered community taps. The Users
Committee levied the water tariff even higher than the normal water
tariff set by the public water utilities in other towns of Nepal and there
was no complain from the beneficiaries.
Strong local leadership was continuously available for both the pre-
and post-construction phases of the project and the beneficiaries
were involved in all the stages of planning construction, operation,
and management. It was an innovative scheme in which the users
took full responsibility for its operation and management. This also
proved that usersmanagement is better than the conventional top-
down approach. Social acceptance and consensus also played a very
important role; the local people are fully satisfied with the services
provided and are more willing to pay for better services.
Contact Mr. Bel Prasad Shrestha, Mayor
Dhulikhel, Kabhre, Nepal
Tel. (977 011) 613 24, (977 011) 613 29

TRIP REPORT ON FIELD VISIT TO DHULIKHEL DRINKING WATER
SUPPLYPROJECTIntroduction
On 30 April 2008, we visited Dhulikhel Water Supply Project installed in
DhulikhelMunicipality. Our goal was to gain knowledge about working of a water
supply project.Dhulikhel. We were guided by our tutor Mrs. Shalu Sharma during the field visit.
Discussion
The project includes Dhulikhel Water Supply, Panauti Water Supply Extension and
distributionto Chaukot, Taukhal and Kharibot. The base year of the project was 1987 which was
estimated tobe completed by 2012. The estimated cost for the water supply project was Rs.
34.78 million andthe actual cost was 37.76 million.
Project Estmated Cost (Rs.) Factual Cost (Rs.)
Dhulikhel Water Supply 33,782,951/- 36,633,249/-Panauti Water Supply Extension 771,000/-
698,021/-Chaukot + Taukhal + Kharibot 235,000/- 328,925/-Total 34,788,951/-
37,660,195/-
The fund for the project is provided by foreign aid and HMG grant. Foreign grant making
up35.7 million and HMG aid 1.96 million. The per capital cost of Dhulikhel Water Supply
Projectis Rs. 2546.27. The cost per litre is Rs. 33.24 and per metre cost is Rs. 1495.23.The
reservoir capacity is 5,00,000 litres consisting of two steel truss river crossings and 60different
valve chambers. It also includes 9 fire hydrants. The source is a stream, Kharkhola andthe
system type of the project is gravity flow. Water from is sent into the horizontal roughingunit
consisting of gravels where water is partially cleaned. Water is then taken to sedimentationtank
that consists of fine sand at the bottom where heavier particles settle down. After this water


is sent in the chlorination chamber for chlorination. From here it is sent to the reservoir
forstorage. Then water is sent for distribution.
Fig: Schematic diagram of Dhulikhel Water Supply Project
Index1.

Horizontal Roughing Unit 2. Plain Sedimentation Tank 3. Reservoir4.
Chlorination Unit 5,6. Staff Quarter
The transmission main pipeline is 13.5 KM and distribution line is 11 KM. The
transmissionmain consists of Bhumedanda VDC, Malpi VDC, Panauti VDC, Subagaon VDC,
and DhulikhelVDC. The distribution line includes Ward No. 1 to 7 of Dhulikhel Municipality.
The estimatedbenefited population in the base year was 6,840 while in the completion year it is
estimated to be14,387. The water demand in the base year was 5, 50,000 litres per day while in
the 2012 it isestimated to be 11, 02,000 litres per day. The discharge of the source in April 1988
was 32.24litres per second.


is sent in the chlorination chamber for chlorination. From here it is sent to the reservoir
forstorage. Then water is sent for distribution.
Fig: Schematic diagram of Dhulikhel Water Supply Project
Index1.

Horizontal Roughing Unit 2. Plain Sedimentation Tank 3. Reservoir4.
Chlorination Unit 5,6. Staff Quarter
The transmission main pipeline is 13.5 KM and distribution line is 11 KM. The
transmissionmain consists of Bhumedanda VDC, Malpi VDC, Panauti VDC, Subagaon VDC,
and DhulikhelVDC. The distribution line includes Ward No. 1 to 7 of Dhulikhel Municipality.
The estimatedbenefited population in the base year was 6,840 while in the completion year it is
estimated to be14,387. The water demand in the base year was 5, 50,000 litres per day while in
the 2012 it isestimated to be 11, 02,000 litres per day. The discharge of the source in April 1988
was 32.24litres per second.