About 80 families from Pakwadi VDC of Syangjha have left their homes because of drinking water problems. Residents of Lakhudanda, Lafudanda and Bhirgaun have been forced to abandon their ancestral properties because they had to spend six hours daily fetching water.

"Right now there are only five families here, with only three youths," says a local from one of the families that can't afford to leave. "Those who had the means to move have left," says Dhan Kumari Shahi.

Pakwadi locals have to wake up at 2am every morning to get water. Even during the monsoon, they have to walk two hours to reach the nearest source. Local social worker Krishna Shahi says that they have petitioned local politicians but in vain. "No initiative has been taken even though we have complained to the leaders of political parties," he says.

Even the primary school in Lakhudanda has been closed due to water scarcity. "The school was forced to appoint an employee just to bring two vessels of water a day," says the principal of the school, Mukti Prasad Khanal.

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