Water Woes in Lalitpur.

People in core Patan city rely heavily on traditional water spouts like wells built more than a century ago as they serve as the best source of water during the dry season. Senior citizens of Lalitpur still recall, “No water from other source is tastier like well water”.

The well water is widely used in various household purposes, ranging from washing to cleaning and sometimes drinking as well. Tradition and cultural linked with wells still survive in this historic city and people here still celebrate Cithinakha festival, during which they clean wells and preserve them. Lalitpur is probably the only place left where the locals have managed to restore and conserve the historic wells.

But the problems do exist, as the constantly decreasing water level indicates serious water crisis in the near future. Well water level does not remain constant but changes over the certain time period. As people are drawing more water, water level too has decreased in the wells. As a result, adding of the extra rings in the already existing wells has become a regular community activity nowadays. But this does seems to be the solution. Occasional practice of rain water harvesting and other conservational acts are delaying the “Going deeper in search of water process” slightly. It is now high time people in Patan work towards fi nding better ways to save these traditional heritage.