Timeline: How it took 23 years for Nepal to take Melamchi water to Kathmandu

For Kathmanduites, today could be an important day as the Melamchi Water Supply Project is expected to begin distributing water from the Melamchi river in Sindhupalchok today.

There has been an acute water crisis in the Kathmandu valley since the 1980s. In order to ease this situation, the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) was introduced as the long-term solution to this crisis in 1998. The project was designed to divert 170 million litres of fresh water daily from the Melamchi river in the Sindhupalchok district to Kathmandu valley through a 26-km tunnel.