Water

Country Water Action: Sri Lanka
Fighting Against the Odds --
The Quest for Clean Water in Sri Lanka
(January 2005)

Contributed for ADB Water for All E-Newsletter by
Amantha Perera, contributor to the Inter Press Service and
member of the ADB Water Media Network^*

Hambantota saltern being emptied

The Tsunamis that devastated almost three quarters of Sri Lanka's coast, displacing entire communities, have created huge social and infrastructure problems for the island. Water is one such area.

Two weeks after the disaster that took more than 30,000 lives in the island nation of 20 million, the assessment of the damage to inland water resources has only just begun.

Several foreign experts and non-government organizations working in the devastated areas are focusing on water related problems, the main priority being to provide clean drinking water.

This has consisted of rehabilitating the infrastructure as well as dealing with immediate needs--- from distributing bottled water to providing refugee camps with portable water tanks.

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British troops cleaning wells in the East

A team of 13 experts from the German Federal Technical Support Service (THW) is operating from Weligama, south of the country, where there are up to 3,500 displaced persons living in camps.

THW has set up a water purification plant in Weligama that has the capacity to purify 6,000 liters of water per hour. Clean water is then transported in tankers to camps in the region. According to a visiting US Congressional delegation, US Marines are also engaged in water purification in the south of the country.

In most of the residential areas that were damaged by the tsunami, the wells used for drinking and bathing suffered considerable damage. In Kalmunai, for example, many wells were located between the rows of houses flattened by the waves. At some locations bodies swept away by the waves were found lodged inside the wells.

A team of six firefighters from Munich Airport is in Weligama cleaning up to 20 wells a day. According to the firefighters, it is likely to take another three months to clean all the wells in the region.

In Batticaloa, in the east of the country, relief teams from the UK's HMS Chatham have been deployed to clean contaminated wells in badly damaged residential areas. Surface water in the wells is first drained and then tested for contamination by adding silver nitrate. According to the officers, the water's color turns dark if it's contaminated. The pumping then continues until the test results are clean. Chlorine is added to the water after the cleaning process is complete.

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Sea water flooding the Hamilton Canal north of Colombo on 26 December

Against this backdrop, there is the constant fear of water-borne diseases. "There is a massive risk of diseases spreading in these (refugee) camps," Dr. Uditha Herath of the Government Medical Officers' Association said soon after the tsunami.

To counteract this, posters were displayed at the refugee camps advising people to always drink boiled water and thoroughly clean up after using the toilets. Three weeks after the tsunami, no incidents of water-borne diseases have been reported.

Inland water resources have also been contaminated as well as actually helping salt water spread inland.

Inland canals like the Hamilton Canal north of Colombo helped the seawater flow further into the interior. In southern Galle, the seawater entered the town center via alleys.

In the Eastern Province, which saw some of the largest loss of life from the tsunami, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. The Amparai District in the East accounts for 20% of Sri Lanka's paddy production and recorded the largest number of dead. Here and in other areas, salinity has seeped into the irrigation tanks and other sources of water used for paddy cultivation and farming, resulting in spoilt crops and a loss of livelihoods.

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Researchers at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)^* are conducting a rapid needs assessment in Hambantota in the deep south of Sri Lanka. Here, destruction is particularly bad.

In this area, IWMI is involved in gathering information on livelihoods that were affected by the tsunami as well as looking into alternative livelihoods the people in Hambantota can engage in until normalcy is restored.

IWMI is also assessing opportunities to provide technical expertise related to water quality monitoring and water infrastructure damage. But the organization's mandate does not extend to implementing water quality measures. On the ground, others will have to take over.

A new national water management policy is also under consideration. As the time of writing, details of this policy are still unclear. Initial reports, however, say that it will include strict management of future agricultural water usage.

Across Sri Lanka, rehabilitation has begun. The journey is likely to be a long one.