Kathmandu: In the first phase of tunnel testing of Melamchi Drinking Water Project, water has been filled in 14 kilometers (km) of the tunnel of the Project.

According to the executive director of the project, Terish Prasad Khatri, no technical errors have been reported in the tunnel so far. “Of the 26 km long tunnel, the water has been filled in 14 km in the first phase,” he added.

The project had begun tunnel testing filling water in the tunnel from February 22.

The Melamchi Drinking Water will be collected in the Water Treatment Plant at Sundarijal in Kathmandu from March 10, according to the Project.

Currently, the project is passing 260 liters of water per second through the tunnel.

“The passing of water in the tunnel is directly being inspected and monitored with the help of CCTV cameras and other devices,” said Khatri. “Once the water is completely filled in the tunnel, the water will be kept on hold for 10 days for a pressure test,” he added.

If everything goes as planned, the Project is expected to begin distributing Melamchi Drinking Water in the Kathmandu Valley starting mid-April.

The project had conducted similar testing last July. However, four employees at the Melamchi Drinking Water Project were swept away by the Melamchi River when a water tunnel burst out due to some technical faults in its design. Two of them were rescued immediately while the two others lost their lives in the incident. The testing of the tunnel was then postponed to fix the technical problems seen in the water tunnel.