A. Introduction of the Survey

Background

Several national level surveys have been conducted in Nepal in different time points where information on water and sanitation situation of the country were also collected. The Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS), Between Census Household Information, Monitoring and Evaluation System (BCHIMES) and Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) are examples of this kind. These surveys contain very rich information on different topics which is being widely used for national level plans and programs. However, the objectives of these surveys were not water specific. Also, these surveys provide information at regional or sub-regional level but not at the district level.  The Population Census 2001 has a very good coverage in terms of geographical representation but as in other surveys, information on water and sanitation sectors are limited. A comprehensive survey that covers information on water and sanitation sectors is always valuable. Updated information on volume of water consumption, demand, supply etc. are important to formulate effective plan and programs related to water service delivery system.

Keeping these views in mind, an attempt has been made to conduct a water specific survey in Kathmandu. Though the survey is limited to Kathmandu urban and Kathmandu rural there is a wide scope to replicate this survey in other districts as well.

Kathmandu is a most populous district of Nepal. The district has one metropolitan city (Kathmandu) and one municipality (Kirtipur). Kathmandu Metropolitan City alone had 23 per cent of the total urban households of the country in 2001 and massive influx of population every year from all parts of the country has further increased its population. It already has a highest population density (13,586 persons per square Km in 2001) in the country. Access to and quality services of water are among the main problems currently faced by the households living in Kathmandu. Due to the rapid increase of population coupled with concentrated enterprise activities, both urban and rural parts of Kathmandu have been acutely affected with the problem. Despite of the government’s attempt to solve the problem, the situation has not been virtually improved. So, bringing out the results of the survey quickly would help planners, policy makers and all other concerned to take actions based on the survey outcomes. Therefore, the survey has limited its coverage to Kathmandu only.

Objective

The main objective of the survey was to identify the level of water consumption and demand in Kathmandu district. Similarly, the survey intended to identify indicators on status of pipe water supply systems, water sources and use, water tariff and willingness to pay for better services etc.

Sample Design

Keeping the views of differences in availability of services and its use in urban and rural areas of Kathmandu, it was decided to estimate indicators that would be representative of rural Kathmandu and urban Kathmandu separately. Hence, the sample design was made representative of these two domains.

The sample size for urban Kathmandu was fixed at 1200 households and for rural Kathmandu 800 households. Hence all together 2000 households were selected for the survey. A multi-stage sampling design was used to select households (See Annex I).  Since the sample design was not self-weighting, weighting factor was applied to estimate indicators in aggregate level. This leads to the weighted number of households equals to 1,373 in urban Kathmandu and 627 households in rural Kathmandu.

The frame for selecting sample for the survey was the list of wards/sub-wards with corresponding number of households from Population Census 2001. Sub-wards in Kathmandu Metropolitan City and wards in other areas were selected using Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) selection method. All together 40 segments were selected and from each selected segment 50 households were selected for the study. The sample wards were spread over all the six divisions of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (East, West, North, City Core North & South, and City Centre), four wards in Kirtipur Municipality and 16 surrounding wards in rural areas.

Field Work

After completion of the training on questionnaire and field test, actual field work was carried out during the entire month of Chaitra 2061 (March 14-April 13, 2005). Data were collected by six interviewers with strict supervision from officers working in the Bureau.

Data Processing

Data entry program was written in EpiInfo software with sufficient inbuilt logical checks. After completion of the data entry work, several logical and structural checks were done to insure quality data. Data tabulation works were carried out using the SPSS package.

Respondents

Estimates derived from this survey was based on household level only i.e. enterprises such as hotels, industries, offices, other business organizations etc were not included in the survey.