By Sarah Hannan With many families returning to resettle in demilitarised land in the Jaffna District, the demand for water has increased. The lack of rain and the over extraction of the available groundwater are now affecting the mineral composition of the water, turning it to saline water. To make matters worse, the Jaffna District is routinely affected by dry spells and this year, since March, the drought has affected 70,628 persons in 21,094 families. With the drought spanning five months straight, the residents are faced with a shortage in drinking water. The drought has affected the livelihoods of these families and the District Disaster Management Centre Unit has requested the Government to issue dry rations for the affected families since 5 August. Drought set in the Divisional Secretariat (DS) divisions of Delft (3,071 persons affected), Kayts (7,848), Karainagar (8,297), Maruthankerny (4,630), Karaveddi (1,064), and Chavakachcheri (11,484) on 18 March; Velanai (9,638) on 21 March; and Chankanai (21,206) and Sandilipay (3,345) on 10 June. The Sunday Morning contacted Jaffna District Disaster Management Centre Unit Assistant Director S. Ravi to inquire about what facilities are provided for the affected families. “At present, they are facing a shortage of drinking water, and since some areas have been experiencing the drought for over five months now, we requested the Government to issue dry rations for the affected families.” We then inquired about how the water is supplied to the islands of Delft, Kayts, and Velanai, to which Ravi responded stating that Delft Island has a reverse osmosis plant through which water is sourced and distributed through two tractor bowsers. Meanwhile, water for Kayts and Karainagar is sourced from the Nilavarai Well and distributed through two tractor bowsers and two lorry bowsers. Meanwhile, residents of the drought-affected areas have raised concerns that the water distributed by the DSs is insufficient and so they are purchasing water from private water distributors. “Due to the scarcity of water and the limitation of transport facilities and manpower, the water supplied to the areas is often inadequate. So, we have to rely on purchasing water from private water suppliers at Rs. 1 per litre. If we are to fill our storage tanks that have capacities of 1,000 litres each, we pay between Rs. 800 to Rs. 1,000. But the quality of the water supplied is always questionable and it is often murky,” said Violet, a resident from the Velanai DS. According to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) carried out in 2017 for a project which proposed a seawater desalination plant and potable water conveyance system for the Jaffna and Kilinochchi Districts, prepared by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and presented to the Asian Development Bank, it was noted that the peninsula has no permanent rivers because of the flat terrain and limited rainfall, and there were no landforms suitable for reservoir development. Therefore, groundwater is the only source for domestic supply in the peninsula and is also used in agriculture in the dry season. Four karstic aquifers (below each mainland mass) hold the main reserves and shallow sand aquifers hold some monsoon rain. All these are replenished by the November-December rain and diminish by abstraction thereafter. Furthermore, salinisation and contamination by sewage and agricultural fertilisers are common issues in some areas.