More than 96 percent of the citizens of Kathmandu, Karnali Province are forced to drink contaminated water. It has been found that only three percent of citizens in the province have access to clean drinking water.

According to the preliminary results of the national census of 2078, the total population of Karnali province is 16 lakh 94 thousand eight hundred and eighty nine. According to government data, most of the citizens are out of reach of clean drinking water.

According to Gopal Sharma, Senior Divisional Engineer of the Water Resources Division under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources of Karnali Province, 86 percent of citizens in Karnali have access to basic drinking water. Still 6 percent of the population in the province does not have access to basic drinking water.

Sharma said,'Many citizens of the state are forced to drink contaminated water from open ponds, streams, Khalsa and rivers. Work is being done with the goal of providing basic level drinking water facilities to all 79 local levels of the province.

According to Sharma, the Karnali state government has allocated Rs. 1 billion 40 crore in this current financial year 2079/80. Labs have been established in all 10 districts of Karnali and water testing is also being done. Sharma said that now the provincial government and the local level are conducting new water supply projects and the work has been progressed to provide basic facilities to the places where there is a water supply problem.