Kathmandu wastewater: the way forward?

Kathmandu’s urban population will grow from 2.6 million to 4.4 million in 2025. Its current wastewater system barely copes. A masterplan developed in 2009/10 proposes a series of actions to improve its performance with a mix of on-site and off-systems. As with many urban centres, the success of this plan is dependent on numerous external factors. In particular, land prices and land availability for decentralised systems, and treatment technologies were major constraints. The current wastewater status the 2025 vision, a problem tree analysis, together with issues and assumptions identified in the masterplan are presented. The paper concludes with a reflective view of the process adopted, with reference to Strategic Sanitation Approaches and the Sanitation 21 agenda and considers if and how the study may have achieved different outcomes using these principles.