Less than half of population has access to safe drinking water: statistics office

According to a report by the National Statistics Office, only about 47.5 percent of Nepal's population has access to safely managed drinking water.

The office released the report titled "Status of Drinking Water and Sanitation in Nepal." It states that improved drinking water has reached about 90 percent of the population at the household level.

However, more than 46 percent of tested water source samples were found to contain E. coli bacteria. This rate rises above 61 percent in water at the point of consumer use.

In sanitation, improved facilities have reached about 92.8 percent of the population. However, only about 39.9 percent of households have safely managed sanitation.

Director Binod Sharan Acharya of the office said that building infrastructure alone cannot be considered an achievement, and that attention must also be paid to the quality of services.