On the occasion of World Hand Washing Day 2009, Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City (LSMC), Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), and Urban Environment Management Society (UEMS) - partners of Partnership for Safe Water Campaign with support of UN HABITAT Water for Asian Cities Programme Nepal and Bottlers Nepal distributed household water treatment kits to 11 schools and 20 ward level health clinics of Lalitpur. The distribution programme had been organized to raise public awareness on safe drinking water, health and hygiene at school and community level so as to bring the behavioural change, and reduce the outbreak of water and sanitation borne diseases. During the programme, bio-sand filters with 50 litre capacity, 61 colloidal silver filters, 1200 SODIS bottles and chlorine solution to Lalit Bikas Lower Secondary School, Shree Padma School, Shree Mahendra Bhrikuti School, Krishi Udaya Primary School, Shree Shanti School, Kumbheshor Lower Secondary School, Shramik Primary School, Shree Bal Bidyashram, Mahalaxmi Lower Secondary School, Swotantra Shikchha Sadan and Shree Panchakumari Primary School. Likewise, twenty colloidal silver filters were also provided to ward level health clinics of Lalitpur. Speaking at the programme, Chief Executive Officer of LSMC Binod Prakash Singh told that the simple household water treatment options should be promoted widely to access safe drinking water for all. He also requested all the stakeholders to work hard for increasing accessibility of poor communities to safe drinking water service. Distributing the water treatment kits to 20 different schools of Lalitpur, Maheshor Sharma, under secretary of District Education Office, Lalitpur told that water and sanitation (WATSAN) activities in schools will help to improve WATSAN sector. Promotion of PoU (Point of Use) drinking water helped to reduce water borne epidemics in Lalitpur, opined Lekhnath Panthi, Health Assistant at Public Health Branch of LSMC. Padmaja Shrestha, programme manager of ENPHO and Dal Bahadur Sintang, Executive Director of UEMS explained about various WATSAN activities implemented in Lalipur to extend safe drinking water service in the area. Partnership for Safe Water- a unique private public partnership, was initiated by Government of Nepal, UN HABITAT, Bottlers Nepal, Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) and Urban Environment Management Society (UEMS) to reduce water borne diseases in several communities through the promotion of simple Household Water Treatment (HWT) options such as boiling, filtration, chlorination and SODIS. In addition, the campaign is also conducting door to door visit, demonstrating informative street drama and providing capacity building training to women groups. It has already declared three communities in Lalitpur as the Safe Water Zone, where household drinking water treatment options are practiced in every household of the community, which has remarkably decreased the incidence of water borne diseases.