Curiosity filled the spouts

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

Six hundred years ago, in what is now the Ikhhachhen Tole district of Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, a famous tantric's wife crept into her husband's store room looking for a gift he kept mysteriously locked away.

Legend states that what happened next caused the ground to swell with water and her husband to build the ornate water spouts that are now traditional in the area.

Across the city, golden water points like these built hundreds of years ago provide free water to residents. They have become central to life in some parts of Kathmandu enabling even the poorest people to access a regular water supply.

But in recent years, these serpent-headed spouts had fallen into disrepair and the water quality was being questioned. And so WaterAid has supported work to rehabilitate them, testing the water quality and ensuring the spouts are once again providing the local community with safe, clean water.

The stone spouts in Ikhhachhen Tole, called Aalok Hiti, are one of many spread throughout the city that have been rehabilitated. Nepalese culture is rich with vivid myths and the story of the Aalok Hiti water spouts is no exception, recounting how one woman's curiosity inadvertently caused the stone serpent-headed spouts to flow with water.

Tunhudev Bajracharya, a famous tantric, had received the gift of five pebbles from a serpent god which he kept locked away in a clay pot in his store-room. One day, his wife's curiosity got the better of her and she went to look in the pot. But, when she found just five plain pebbles, she threw them out of the window in disgust.

On returning home, her husband found water bubbling up in all the places where the five pebbles had landed. He then used his tantric powers to construct the stone spouts known as Aalok Hiti.

Credit: WaterAid / Marco Betti

600 years later, with more and more people starting to use Aalok Hiti, pressure on the source increased and disputes became common. The community realised that they needed to start using the water source wisely. So, in October 2003 they formed the Aalok Hiti Conservation and Drinking Water Supply Users' Committee.

The project, which involved rehabilitating the source by installing a new plastic tank and setting up a formal payment system for operation and maintenance, has received many awards and attracted international attention.

Alok Hiti now provides clean water to 200 households and continues to improve access for many others. The committee is planning to extend the supply to 800 additional households. And there has been a knock on effect on other communities too, which are now replicating Aalok Hiti's success by rehabilitating their own spouts.