A famous Tibetan proverb truly says that ‘A child without education is like a bird without wings’. Children are the future of our country, and hence educating them is of utmost importance for us. Healthy mind resides in a healthy body, and for healthy environment, clean water and sanitation is essential, playing a crucial role in improving child’s health.
A report of WaterAidNepal (2015) states that “Water, sanitation and hygiene related ailments and diseases still fall under the 10 most prevalent diseases in Nepal.
Research
An in-depth research was conducted in government schools of Kathmandu Valley, to get insight about their water and sanitation condition. The data pointed that the water sources available are not proving enough for most of the schools, thereby increasing their dependency on tankers and jar-waters for the supply. They were found looking for an alternate solution.
Most of the schools are forced to drink boring and tanker water, though not being sure about their quality (even after using few filtering techniques), as they have no other option. Many were found depending upon electricity for filtration process, in the shadow of load-shedding.
Sanitation condition was also not praise-worthy in schools, as on an average, they have 1 toilet for 100 people, and the availability of water and soaps were also the area of concern.
Solution
In condition like these, rainwater harvesting could be the best possible solution, as in the valley we have plenty amount of rainfall throughout the year, which could be effectively collected, filtered and used for utility purposes, such as sanitation, washing, cooking etc. Biosand filtration could also be implemented for filtering the rainwater, tanker, well and boring water to remove its iron and harmful bacteria content (without use of electricity).
Hence, if problem is water, solution is rainwater!!!
-Bipul Raj Manandhar