Water Supply and Sanitation Act, 2022

Chapter-1

Preliminary

1. Short Title and Commencement: (1) This Act shall be called the "Drinking Water and Sanitation Act, 2079".

(2) This Act shall commence on the thirty-first day after the date of its certification. 2. Definitions: Unless the subject or context otherwise requires, in this Act,-

(a) "License" means a license pursuant to Section 9.

(b) "Licensee Institution" means an organized institution providing drinking water and sanitation services, and said term also denotes a service provider who has obtained a license under this Act to provide drinking water and sanitation services, to survey, construct, operate, and manage projects or service systems, and to use or cause to be used water sources for public, institutional, commercial, and industrial purposes.

(c) "Commission" means the Drinking Water and Sanitation Service Tariff Fixation Commission pursuant to Section 28.

(d) "Project" means a project operated for the purpose of constructing, expanding, or improving physical infrastructure and carrying out other related works to provide drinking water and sanitation services.

(e) "Consumer" means a person, institution, or body using drinking water and sanitation services.

(f) "Consumer Institution" means a community institution operating drinking water and sanitation services.

(g) "Drinking Water Service" means the act of supplying drinking water for domestic, public, institutional, or industrial use by storing, transferring, treating, and distributing water according to prescribed standards, and said term also denotes the act of providing drinking water in bulk, by tanker, or in bottled form.

(h) "Public Use of Drinking Water" means the use of drinking water distributed to consumers from publicly installed taps, and said term also denotes the use of drinking water used in public places during emergencies including fire control.

(i) "Institutional Use of Drinking Water" means the use of drinking water by government, public, commercial, or business institutions, and said term also denotes drinking water used by industrial institutions for purposes other than industrial purposes.

(j) "Drinking Water" means quality clean drinking water that does not contain elements harmful to human and animal health and conforms to the National Drinking Water Quality Standards.

(k) "Domestic Use" means the use of drinking water for drinking, washing hands, face, and clothes, bathing, cooking, feeding animals and birds, kitchen gardening, toilets, or other similar personal and household purposes.

(l) "Drainage" means the act of collecting and transferring wastewater, with or without human excreta, through an underground or surface sewer system or any other safe method.

(m) "Prescribed" or "as prescribed" means prescribed or as prescribed in this Act or the rules made under this Act.

(n) "Inspector" means an employee designated by the Ministry to work as an Inspector pursuant to Section 39.

(o) "Water Source" means surface or underground water sources such as rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, stone spouts, wells, and springs from which water naturally emerges, and said term also denotes rainwater and man-made structures supplying water.

(p) "Wastewater" means wastewater, with or without human excreta, discharged after domestic and institutional use of drinking water, and said term also denotes rainwater mixed with wastewater.

(q) "Ministry" means the Ministry of the Government of Nepal responsible for drinking water matters.

(r) "Sanitation Service" means the act of maintaining environmental cleanliness by managing wastewater and providing drainage, and said term also denotes the act of constructing, developing, operating, and promoting sewerage systems, wastewater treatment systems, and public toilets to protect water sources.

(s) "Organized Institution" means a consumer institution, company, or cooperative institution registered and established pursuant to prevailing law for operating drinking water and sanitation services, and said term also denotes a corporation, board, committee, authority, or body of a similar nature formed and established with the objective of providing drinking water and sanitation services pursuant to prevailing law.

(t) "Service System" means a drinking water source, pipes, treatment mechanisms, water storage structures, reservoirs, or structures related to sanitation services, or other similar equipment or structures, and said term also denotes the house, land, and structures built thereon connected to the drinking water and service.

(u) "Service Provider" means a licensee institution providing drinking water and sanitation services through the construction, operation, and management of drinking water services, sanitation services, or service systems.

(v) "Service Area" means the area prescribed and mentioned in the license for the licensee institution to operate and manage drinking water and sanitation services.

(w) "Local Level" means a Rural Municipality or Municipality.