Amarapuri water supply scheme was started in 2033 B.S by the Government of Nepal. At that time people were bound to drink impure water of river that used to be supplied directly without any treatment. However in 2056 B.S the water scheme was handed over to community. Afterwards with the collaborative effort from Users group, RWSST project of FINIDA and District Development Committee the water supply scheme has been developing infrastructure for water purification and distribution and supply has been improved. 60% of the investment for the project was done by Finland and local government however 40% of the investment was done by the users. Before the completion of filtration plant in 2004 AD people were bound to drink impure water and suffered from water borne diseases. Now the people of Amarapuri VDC are free from water borne diseases which has also been certified by the District Health Office.

Besides Water division of Nawalparasi has declared water distributed by Amarapuri water supply Scheme as safe water which is the result of proper management of the people and active community participation. Because of the same the user committee is also provided authority to conduct Waster safety Plan programs in different places of the country. The team during these programs share their experience and knowledge on filtration, safe distribution and other aspects of the safe drinking water.

This water supply system has become an example for the many other water supply schemes in the country as it is a very successful project operated by the users group in terms of supplying safe water and continuously contributing in community development. The water supply scheme is also aiding in sanitation of the community leading the VDC to Total Sanitation VDC.

The scheme is also expanding its service and infrastructure. In near future the water supply scheme will have additional reservoir with capacity 4lakh litres with the support of water supply division of Nawalparasi. Also the user committee is expanding water filtration plant and planning for the sustainability of the water source along expansion of the service to the places in the VDC where it could not reach earlier. Besides the development of water supply scheme and community the supply scheme is also dedicated in awareness among people of the community. Each year the scheme provides training and knowledge sharing campaign (Users Awareness campaign) for 100 households of the VDC and so far in 6 years they have covered 600 households of the VDC out of 1631 households. As a result people are conscious about quality of drinking water and committed in preserving the water resource. The community is also targeting to be declared as community with the access of safe drinking water (Suddha Pani Piune Gabisa).

During the visit the visiting team explored the system of the scheme from source to the filtration system and interacted with the key persons of the water supply scheme and some local people.

(Report based on interaction and telephone conversation with Man Bahadur Ranabhat- member of user committee Of Amarapuri Water Supply Scheme )