Thirsty in the pouring rain: The monsoon-Melamchi paradox

Last Friday, the water stopped again. Floodwaters had entered the intake of the Melamchi Water Supply Project at Ambathan in Helambu, Sindhupalchok, on Thursday night, turning the river too turbid to treat. By morning, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) had suspended distribution across the Valley. A week later, the taps are still dry for many households, and the KUKL office where I sit as an intern is full of people who want to know one thing: when will the water come back?

I don’t have a good answer for them. I don’t have a good answer for myself either. By day, I am the voice explaining supply schedules and alternative ways to frustrated customers. By evening, I am one of those customers, standing over an empty bucket in my own room, feeling the same anger I spent all day trying to calm in someone else. It is an uncomfortable place to stand inside the institution and outside its promises at the same time.