A new movie explaining the importance of urban water conservation based on a love story has been aired to a nationwide television audience in Nepal as part of a campaign to help broaden public understanding of clean water and sanitation. The television movie “Jalpari”, was directed by the comedians Madan K. Shrestha and Haribansa Acharya, both of whom acted out the story of the girl Jalpari whose parents would not let her a marry a Kathmandu boy because of water scarcity in the city. Newspapers said the September 17 show had not only drawn 60 percent of the nationwide television audience, but that it had conveyed the message on rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling techniques in a delightful and entertaining story which ended happily when the Jalpari’s parents finally agreed to the marriage after seeing how the boy’s family had adopted proper water conservation techniques at home. The film was produced by NGO, Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation and the Environment and Public Health Organization with technical support from UN HABITAT as part of the campaign to observe 2005 as the Year of Rainwater. Water Aid Nepal, and the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) also supported it.
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