By Skandha Gunasekara
The Government aims to provide clean drinking water supply to over 75% of the population by the end of its term, including the establishment of desalination plants and new efforts to conserve water sources.
Minister of Water Supply Vasudeva Nanayakkara, speaking to The Sunday Morning, emphasised the importance of clean drinking water to the socioeconomic status of a nation and the need to locate and protect sources of clean drinking water.
“Water, similar to education and health, is a way of reducing poverty. Those who have the means will get water somehow – even by having it transported. It is those who are financially vulnerable that are unable to obtain such access to clean drinking water.
“Another significant aspect is the need to protect sources of clean drinking water, as without a water source, there cannot be supply. So, before we speak of water supply, we must give prominence to the topic of water conservation. We will take steps to identify and proclaim sources of water, strictly implement laws to protect and safeguard water sources, and we will also take steps to remove flora and fauna that is harmful to sources of clean water and instead, promote the planting of species that protect water.”
He said that plans are being drawn up to introduce ways to locate and test underground water sources and discontinue and curtail harmful practices.
“It has also been found that the use of certain types of construction equipment, such as backhoes, do damage to clean water sources such as wells. We will also implement a mechanism to monitor and test underground water sources. At present, there is no such mechanism. We still don’t even know how much underground water is available. We must also put in place a method to control the utilisation of groundwater sources. Currently, anyone can dig a well and obtain any amount of water when and where they please for various purposes like factory work or for plantation.”
He said that the best target would be to achieve 100% water supply in the country but expects to have covered 75% in the next four years.
“Presently, we have about 47% from the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) and about 12% from the Department of National Community Water Supply. The latter will be increased to 20% by 2025 and the NWSDB distribution will be increased to 72%, while around 4% will be supplied from wells and other domestic sources that are operational.”
He said the Government would not be profit-minded in dispensing this essential service but would come down hard on anyone exploiting the system and illegally obtaining water.
“Supplying water is not a business but a service that the Government provides. So, profits and losses are not relevant in this regard, but there is an amount of water that is taken from this service without remuneration and that is through leakages, illegal water tapping, and other methods. We must stop such wastage. In the city of Colombo alone, we saw 40% of the water being supplied in such a manner without the NWSDB receiving any revenue, but we have been able to reduce that to just 20% now by laying new water pipe networks. That is one of our goals – to reduce non-revenue water to the maximum.”
The Minister noted that with the development of the country, demand for proper tap water supplies had increased.
“There are some places where wells become unusable, so there is a serious demand for water supply. We have a responsibility to meet this demand and we must prepare to supply water to all the people across the various parts of the country. We have to do this within our Government’s term of five years, and we have just four years left.”
He asserted that the Government had a masterplan for the next four years.
“We will look to complete 44 short-term projects as fast as possible. We also expect to add 525,000 new water supply lines by the year 2025. We have identified 95 projects where we have increased the scope and perimeters of water supply, resulting in an additional 213,000 water lines.”
Minister Nanayakkara said that several projects had either begun or had been completed in various parts of the country.
He then went on to speak on the importance and need to curb waste being dumped into waterways.
“Another duty we have is to clean waste disposals from the water networks. On average, each district secretariat division has over 500 households without proper sanitation and toilet facilities. They have at the most, primitive squatting latrines. The more such unsanitary toilets are built, the more waste is disposed into our groundwater sources, causing pollution. Also, rivers that flow through cities, such as the Kelani River, end up becoming polluted as well. These are problematic issues that we must address. The undertaking to clean waste and sewage from our water network is as important as supplying water to the people. We will formulate a plan for this purpose as well.”
“Another significant aspect is the need to protect sources of clean drinking water, as without a water source, there cannot be supply. So, before we speak of water supply, we must give prominence to the topic of water conservation. We will take steps to identify and proclaim sources of water, strictly implement laws to protect and safeguard water sources, and we will also take steps to remove flora and fauna that is harmful to sources of clean water and instead, promote the planting of species that protect water.”
He said that plans are being drawn up to introduce ways to locate and test underground water sources and discontinue and curtail harmful practices.
“It has also been found that the use of certain types of construction equipment, such as backhoes, do damage to clean water sources such as wells. We will also implement a mechanism to monitor and test underground water sources. At present, there is no such mechanism. We still don’t even know how much underground water is available. We must also put in place a method to control the utilisation of groundwater sources. Currently, anyone can dig a well and obtain any amount of water when and where they please for various purposes like factory work or for plantation.”
He said that the best target would be to achieve 100% water supply in the country but expects to have covered 75% in the next four years.
“Presently, we have about 47% from the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) and about 12% from the Department of National Community Water Supply. The latter will be increased to 20% by 2025 and the NWSDB distribution will be increased to 72%, while around 4% will be supplied from wells and other domestic sources that are operational.”
He said the Government would not be profit-minded in dispensing this essential service but would come down hard on anyone exploiting the system and illegally obtaining water.
“Supplying water is not a business but a service that the Government provides. So, profits and losses are not relevant in this regard, but there is an amount of water that is taken from this service without remuneration and that is through leakages, illegal water tapping, and other methods. We must stop such wastage. In the city of Colombo alone, we saw 40% of the water being supplied in such a manner without the NWSDB receiving any revenue, but we have been able to reduce that to just 20% now by laying new water pipe networks. That is one of our goals – to reduce non-revenue water to the maximum.”
The Minister noted that with the development of the country, demand for proper tap water supplies had increased.
“There are some places where wells become unusable, so there is a serious demand for water supply. We have a responsibility to meet this demand and we must prepare to supply water to all the people across the various parts of the country. We have to do this within our Government’s term of five years, and we have just four years left.”
He asserted that the Government had a masterplan for the next four years.
“We will look to complete 44 short-term projects as fast as possible. We also expect to add 525,000 new water supply lines by the year 2025. We have identified 95 projects where we have increased the scope and perimeters of water supply, resulting in an additional 213,000 water lines.”
Minister Nanayakkara said that several projects had either begun or had been completed in various parts of the country.
He then went on to speak on the importance and need to curb waste being dumped into waterways.
“Another duty we have is to clean waste disposals from the water networks. On average, each district secretariat division has over 500 households without proper sanitation and toilet facilities. They have at the most, primitive squatting latrines. The more such unsanitary toilets are built, the more waste is disposed into our groundwater sources, causing pollution. Also, rivers that flow through cities, such as the Kelani River, end up becoming polluted as well. These are problematic issues that we must address. The undertaking to clean waste and sewage from our water network is as important as supplying water to the people. We will formulate a plan for this purpose as well.”