Kathmandu valley is facing an acute shortage of safe drinking water. Only about half of the city's population is supplied with piped treated water and the service is poor and irregular, averaging to about 3-4 hours per day. General absence of sanitation in and around dense urban settlements has also led to recurring contamination of the piped water distribution system at times of low or no pressure.

This 18-month project, co-funded by International Development Research Centre, was implemented in collaboration with two Nepalese NGOs - National Zoonosis and Food Hygiene Research Centre (NZFHRC) and SAGUN. The objective was to develop awareness at the highest policy level about the acute water quality problem, and subsequently plan and implement a long-term, community-based approach in water quality planning, implementation and monitoring.