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Keeping drinking water safe: Adopting water safety plans in rural Nepal
01.07.2011
Following the detection of arsenic in Nepal in 1999, a mitigation programme led to the development and official notification of water quality standards in 2006. Nepal undertook the first two pilots on water safety plans (WSP) during 2007. Capacity building at national and regional level allowed gradual scaling up of community-based pilots in 2008/9, with further rolling-out to some 40 schemes taking place in 2010. Institutionalization of WSP at all levels will require further capacity building within the water and health sector, and needs support from evolving policy and practice to ensure that water committees in villages and towns are able to implement improvements and abide by current water quality regulations.