Prioritization of rural water supply and sanitation schemes

Drinking water is one of the basic needs of the people, receiving increasingly stronger emphasis in every consecutive development plans of the His Majesty’s Government of Nepal (HMG/N). In this context, HMG/N has set a target to provide drinking water to all by the year 2002 AD. Similarly, the target of sanitation coverage has been set to achieve 40 percent within the same time frame (HMG/N: 1998). In line of increased emphasis of the government on social infrastructure development, it is imperative to develop future development plans for phased investment in the sector. Accordingly, District Profile and Plan for the rural water supply and sanitation sector (DWSDP) was prepared for several districts in the country. The authors were responsible for developing such plans in five districts in the Eastern Development Region of Nepal. These Plans were developed to prepare an inventory of existing water supply and sanitation situation of the districts, information on existing coverage and location of areas that have not been covered and identification of potential and possible schemes and sanitation services to be implemented in the future. The DWSDPs are expected to be the basic document on which future investments in the water and sanitation (WATSAN) sector would be based at the district level.