Nor any drop to drink

The authorities must spring into action before water contamination becomes a full blown crisis.

The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division has confirmed what we almost always knew: The water we drink is not safe. According to a recent finding of the division, nearly 70 percent of drinking water samples in Kathmandu Valley were contaminated with E coli and faecal coliform, the bacteria that cause cholera. That cholera has remained a chronic health emergency in rural parts of Nepal for the longest time is no news. But its presence in the water that the residents of the capital city drink should also not come as a surprise: Twelve people have tested positive for cholera in eight days since last Sunday in various places in Kathmandu Valley, and the number might rise in the days to come.