MAHOTTARI: As a prolonged dry spell grips Madhesh Province, the local and provincial governments have begun dispatching fire trucks and water tankers to supply drinking water to parched communities. But residents say the emergency relief efforts are too little, too late.
With no rainfall for weeks, traditional water sources like hand pumps, dug wells, and tube wells have dried up across much of the southern plains. In Mahottari district, one of the worst-hit areas, people are struggling to secure enough water for drinking and cooking.
“We’re entirely dependent on the municipality’s tankers now,” said Ram Pravesh Mahato of Chauriya Tol, Ward 1, in Manara Shiswa Municipality. “There’s no water in our hand pumps or wells.”
But even that support is unreliable. “Sometimes the water tanker arrives at midnight,” said local Gagan Dev Yadav. “We have to wake up in the middle of the night just to collect a few buckets of water.”
Local governments have mobilized whatever resources they can to distribute water across affected wards, but the demand has far outpaced supply. Residents across multiple villages say they wait hours or even days for the next tanker to arrive.
Some temporary relief has come in Ward No. 5, where the deep borewell at Janata Secondary School was recently opened to the public. Still, with temperatures high and no rain in the forecast, the region’s water crisis shows no signs of easing.
The inadequate response has raised concerns about government preparedness and the lack of a sustainable drought management plan. For many in Madhesh, the nightly scramble for tanker water has become a symbol of deeper systemic failures.
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