Editing Thimphu (section)

====Water supply and sanitation====

Service-oriented municipal corporations have been established in the two biggest urban centres in Bhutan namely, Thimphu and [[Phuentsholing]]. Thimphu Municipal Corporation (TMC) is the service organization that has the mandate for executing urban water supply and sanitation programmes in Thimphu city. TMC is an autonomous ‘Civic Body’ under the municipal charter granted in 2003, as per the Bhutan Municipal Act of 1999. However, the overall responsibility to formulate strategies and policies for human settlement in the country rests with the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement of the central government, as the nodal agency, with its subordinate Department of Urban Development and Engineering Services made responsible for executing urban water supply and sanitation programmes.<ref name=water>{{cite web|url= http://ddws.gov.in/infosacosan/PPT/SACOSAN%20Bhutan%20Country%20Paper%202008%20November.doc|title= Country Paper for South Asian Conference on Sanitation (Sacosan III)|access-date= 2010-06-08|publisher= Government of Bhutan|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110721170617/http://ddws.gov.in/infosacosan/PPT/SACOSAN%20Bhutan%20Country%20Paper%202008%20November.doc|archive-date= 2011-07-21}}</ref>

Access to potable water is available to 90% of the population in Thimphu, though water supply is intermittent, attributed to leakage and high consumer demand.<ref name=south>{{cite web|url=http://www.sayen.org/bhutan.htm|title=Bhutan: State of the Environment|access-date=2010-06-08|publisher=South Asia Youth for Environment Education (SAYEN)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050215034005/http://sayen.org/bhutan.htm|archive-date=2005-02-15}}</ref>

Conventional piped sewerage with lagoon treatment has been installed in the core areas of Thimphu with coverage of about 70%. However, the urban sanitation issues that have been flagged for action are: to ensure provision of flush toilets or latrines with proper septic tanks and soak pits in all new houses; dismantling VIP latrines and long drop toilets; to provide piped sewerage and wastewater treatment plants in all urban areas, allocation of funds for piped sewerage and treatment plant and awareness campaign on basic sanitation.<ref name=water/><ref name =south/>

Thimphu also has an organised waste collection and disposal system. However, the quantum of waste generation in the city, which has about 6,982 households and 1,000 institutions, was projected to double in the period 2000–2010. At present, the solid waste disposal is at the sanitary landfill site, which may become inadequate soon. This problem is intended to be addressed by minimizing waste generation and adopting proper waste segregation methods.<ref name=water/><ref name =south/>