kathmanducity, I am not aware of the facts etc but let me put forth whatever i know in this regard 1.Kulekhani option: I forgot the name of the engineer, should be Indra ... as i mentioned above. He has an article in the journal TECHNOLOGY, published by Pulchowk campus (yr. 2000 issue i guess). If you get a chance to grab that article, he has provided monumental evidences that Kulekhani far outweighs Melamchi. He used to work in Khanepani dept (?? or corp???) at panipokhari. 2. Trisuli option: I have not calculated the costs. But given the geographic vicinity of Trishuli, its just a thought- an option. I meant to say that it might be. The focus of my argument was that as Melamchi is being highlighted as "the only solution", I am arguing that there might be other options as well and merely lossing Melamchi does not require giving up all the hopes. Furthermore, Trishuli definitely can provide a larger discharge than Melamchi would. As far as I know, the water-demand taken into regard currently is considering household use for a developing country etc but lets say Kathmandu prospers and we will need water as in the developed countries (e.g. per capita >200 lpd), in that case, we will again have to find other sources beside Melamchi. I am aware there are annexation options to Melamchi as well but I believe a regulated Trisuli will always pose better than an off-the-river Melamchi. 3. Fair use: I am not saying Kathmandu should be neglected. I am saying that while fulfilling Kathmandu, rest of the country should not be looted. I have heard from friends (my field is in structures and as such, i dont have much first-hand knowledge on what is going on in water resources sector in nepal), melamchi project will draw almost all of the water and will leave significant environmental impacts. Drying up of a river does not only mean immediate effect to the dependent "paddy" farmers but also effects to the ground water system, land, eco-system etc. My focus is: in any case, whether Melamchi or Trisuli or whatever, priority should be given to arrest/harvest of monsoon rainwater and thus regulating reservoirs rather than run-off-the-river types. 4. Distro: Thats good to hear because the distribution system is a real mirage in Ktm. And I am sorry beforehand for any info that I might have said for I donot have any first-hand knowledge. All I know is thro friends. But I am skeptical at whether the practice of hiking prices or letting off of corrupt criminals under the SOLE DIRECTION of ADB, as always in the past, will ever realize that goal. To requote 'hulaki bajey': "we should stop being Gurkhas anymore." ADB is there to invest and they kind-of want projects to lengthen, and kind-of crippled so that they can invest more and maintain their grip, its MY point of view of ADB and WB and IMF and alike. I beg to differ on this if anyone does not like it. 5. D/S: One of the things I meant to say was pollution when I mentioned "inept water management in Ktm". The other point was, as most ppl agree, the discharge in Bagmati has significantly reduced regardless of how much water is domestically consumed in Kathmandu. I have heard ppl saying that over the 2 decades, the discharge in Bagmati has gone down by more than half. Again, let me stress all of this was in GOOD FAITH for sake of a technical discussion. I fully acknowledge that I might be just one of- right or wrong, but not both, at the same time :) Keep rolling...