Theme: Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible
Every year on 22nd March, “World Water Day” is celebrated with a particular theme to draw attention and raise awareness on the importance of water. Focusing on this year’s theme, “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible”, the Ministry of Water Supply and Society of Public Health Engineers Nepal (SOPHEN) with the support of WHO, USAID, Water Aid, Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA), ENPHO, BORDA South Asia, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ITN-BUET, UNICEF, and SNV organized an event on 22nd March, 2022 at Shankar Hotel Lazimpat, Kathmandu. The event was divided into 3 sessions; Art Competition, Technical session and Panel discussion.
The 1st session of the event, Art Competition was conducted under the theme, “Importance and Usefulness of Water Resources”. Altogether, 12 students from 8 different schools: 3 from Bhaktapur, 3 from Lalitpur, and 2 from Kathmandu, participated in the competition.
Alongside, different stalls were also placed in the event showcasing different IEC materials, models, videos, and water test kits. With this, ENPHO exhibited IEC materials, videos, and models related to Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) to share and enhance the knowledge of participants. More than 230 individuals visited the stall, from governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, international non-governmental organizations, media, freelancers, and academic backgrounds.
The formal session started after the art competition, where Honorable Minister Mr. Uma Kanta Chaudhary, Ministry of Water Supply resided as the Chief Guest. Mr. Suresh Acharya, Secretary, Ministry of Water Supply Nepal, resided as a special guest, and Dr. Bindhu Nath Lohani, Former Vice-President, ADB and Mr. Suman Prasad Sharma, Former Secretary, Government of Nepal, resided as the distinguished guests. Er. Anil Bhadra Khanal, Chairman-SOPHEN, chaired the session.
Mr. Rajiv Joshi, General Secretary, SOPHEN welcomed and thanked all the guests and participants for their valuable presence in his welcome speech. Furthermore, he remarked that all the presentations and discussions in the event would enhance knowledge and raise awareness in the importance of preserving and proper use of water resources, and also highlighted that SOPHEN will continue to work for the improvement in the WASH sector in the future.
After the welcome speech, the event was formally inaugurated by honorable Minister Mr. Chaudhary via lighting Panas.
During the event, WASH Journal 2022 published by SOPHEN was officially launched by the chief guest and, special guest.
Representing the voice of a young generation, Ms. Sushmita Chalise, a student from Gokerneshwor Light Academy put forward her views regarding the importance and usefulness of water resources. During her speech, she highlighted the fact that the level of groundwater is depleting and it is time to take corrective action so as to save water resources for the future generation.
Up next was the keynote from Mr. Bindu Nath Lohani who highlighted various groundwater challenges such as groundwater pollution, depleting level of groundwater, degradation of ecological functions and, lack of coordination between different sectors. Along with the challenges, he also spoke about possible ways of management such as groundwater recharge, the inclusion of 5R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recovery and Rethink) in engineer design, roles of governance and institutions as an important component. He emphasized the management of urban water as 62% of the national population resides in urban areas. After the completion of his speech, the honorable minister provided him with a token of love.
Mr. Suresh Acharya, Secretary, the Ministry of Water Supply Nepal, also expressed his remarks focusing upon the need for wise use of water, recharge of groundwater, treatment of wastewater, and rainwater harvesting for proper management of water.
Honorable Minister Mr. Chaudhary highlighted the fact that the constitution of Nepal has defined access to safe drinking water as a basic human right. However, climate change has affected water resources in terms of quantity, as well as quality. He emphasized the coordination among different stakeholders at all the federal levels to come up with solutions to water-related issues. He further suggested rainwater harvesting and installation of wastewater treatment plants as some of the possible solutions to the existing water problems.
The formal session ended up with the declaration of winners in the art competition. The prizes were distributed by the honorable minister where, the Consolation prize was presented to Mr. Angel Prajapati from Nawaratna English Boarding School, Bhaktapur. Similarly, 3rd prize was presented to Mr. Susan Jati, from Learners’ Academy Bhaktapur along with prize money Rs 5000. 2nd prize was presented to Kritan Datheputte with prize money 7000. Mr. Sanis Shrestha, the winner was awarded with prize money of 10,000. Both 1st runner up and the winner were from Shining Student Academy, Bhaktapur. Moreover, the judging panel for the art completion was also provided with a token of love. The judges’ panel involved Mr. Ujjwal Prajapati, Deputy Executive Director, Melamchi Water Supply; Er Dr Rajit Ojha, Senior Division Engineer, DWSS and Ms. Sarita Dangol Senior Artist, Canvas Nepal.
The second session was the technical session. Different water-related presentations were presented during the session. Presentation on “Groundwater update on Nepal situation” was presented by Dr. Sudan Raj Panthi from WHO. Mr. Sanjeev Bikram Rana, ED, KVWSMB, presented a presentation regarding the groundwater situation followed by Sarbagya Shrestha, Head of Program, Water Aid. WASH Expert Ms. Preeti Khatri presented a presentation on WASH services. The last presentation for the session was presented by Mr. Jitendra Baidhya from Hilltake Pipes, regarding PVCO / DWC Pipes – New Development in Water Transmission.
The last session for the event was Panel discussion on “How to make Groundwater more visible in Nepal”, facilitated by Senior Hydrologists Dr. Moti Lal Rijal, Associate Professor and Chair- IAH-Nepal. Panelists present in the discussion were Mr. Surya Raj Kadel, DG, DWSSM, Mr.Suresh das Shrestha, Professor, Mr.Suresh Raj Uprety, Senior Hydrogeologist and Mr. Narendra Khatri, Past President of NHA. Panel discussion was led by open floor discussion for the participants. All the guests on the dais , presenters in the technical session, panelists in the discussion session, winners, and judges of art completion were provided with token of love after the end of each session.
Er. Anil Bhadra Khanal, Chairperson of SOPHEN, put forward his closing remarks and concluded the day celebration event by thanking all the participants for making the event successful.
