Nepal, July 15 -- The question has quietly shifted from whether a household has a connection, to whether that tap actually delivers water when it is most needed: during the long dry months.

Most community water schemes in Nepal follow a familiar pattern: locate a spring, build a collection structure, lay pipes, construct a reservoir, and run connections to households. This approach has improved access for millions. But it rests on an assumption that the spring will keep flowing, reliably, throughout the year.

Climate change is dismantling that assumption.

Many perennial springs are now seasonal. Extended droughts, erratic rainfall, forest fires, loss of traditional ponds are eroding the natural processes that recharge these sources. ...