March 17, 2019
Unica Foundation, along with the Nepal Red cross Society (NRCS) Kaski, had started a drinking water- and sanitation project in Arnakot and Upper-Bengri in Baglung district since March 2011 to March 2013. The water supply system, including toilets, were constructed during the project. A total of 19 km of pipes and 41 taps were constructed, resulting into easy accessible and healthy drinking water. At the same time the 176 toilets were constructed. All together 191 households, consisting of 1500 inhabitants, were served by the project.
Arnakot and Upper-Bengri are both located in a rural mountainous area in Nepal. The communities had to rely onto three water taps which rarely provided water. Two times a day they had to walk around 2,5 hours to fill their buckets with water.
This project was the first project of the Unica Foundation in which lifting technology was applied. As the community was situated uphill and the water source was available only in the valley, Unica Foundation had to use electric pumps from Grundfos (a pump manufacturer, based in Denmark) to lift the water at 520 meters vertical height in two stages. Those pumps were fed by a local hydro power, which was initially built to serve the villagers for lights and basic home appliances.
As time passed by, issues arose concerning the hydropower which couldn’t supply enough energy to the pumps. The linkage and growing power demand from the villagers were the main issues.
To resolve the issue, Unica agreed to work with NRCS Kaski, Nisikhola Rural Municipality, and the water user’s committee in Arnakot to build a new Pico Hydro plant. This plant would generate 18kW power, from which the pump system would get 8kW power uninterruptedly.
All key stakeholders were in agreement last month in the office of the NRCS-Kaski, making it possible to start the construction of the Pico hydro. The construction project is supposed to be completed in six months.
The construction contract is awarded to Oshin Power Service P. Ltd., a Butwal-based company which is experienced in the Pico hydro sector.
