Your editorial 'National sinkhole' (#168) raises the issue of Kathmandu's bias in the drinking water sector. Our estimates are that the total cost of reforms to the Valley water supply are even higher than the $200 million you suggest. We estimate a total cost of $464 million, or Rs 34,000 per person in the Valley's urban areas. This represents 68 percent of the investment that is likely to be made in the sector over the next 12 years for the benefit of the 6 percent of the nation's population that live in the Valley. We agree that water supply in Kathmandu needs improvement, especially for the poorest families living in slums and squatter communities, the daily wage renters and all low-income households.

Our concern is that the government and donor focus on Kathmandu diverts atention away the rest of the country where this morning five million Nepalis drank water from unsafe sources and 15 million Nepalis defecated in the open. On many occasions the government has committed to addressing these issues: only last month it signed the Dhaka Declaration on Sanitation. For Nepal to meet its commitment to the Millennium Development Target of halving the proportion of people without access to water and sanitation, an additional 13,000 toilets need to be constructed and 12,000 families need access to improved water every month for the next 12 years. Will this really happen when so much is being lavished on Kathmandu?

Roshan Raj Shrestha,
NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation, Kathmandu