Most urban households in our country are supplied with pipe borne
water. The Water Supply Board incurs great expense in the cleaning
process of pipe borne water. Most of this water is used for purposes
like flushing toilets, washing cars, watering plants etc. It is quite
wasteful to use water cleaned at great expense for these purposes.
An alternative solution for this wastage of cleaned water is to have
a rainwater harvesting and distribution system in every home.
Rainwater falling on roofs and collected from gutter pipes can be
stored in a tank and used for purposes where cleaned water is not
required. This will help in reducing the water bill in households as
well.
If all new houses being built can be equipped with a rainwater tank
and distribution system, it will help in a very sustainable use of our
precious water resource. Even existing houses can add such a system
without much cost.
Many foreign countries have realised the importance of conserving
scarce water resources and are providing incentives for rainwater
harvesting. For example, it is now mandatory that every new house built
in Melbourne, Australia is equipped with a rainwater tank and the
Government is providing rebates to those who add rainwater tanks.
Proper awareness and guidance should be provided in Sri Lanka also
for rainwater harvesting.
It is important that all stakeholders in this aspect which include
the Institutions of Engineers, Architects, the UDA, Municipal and Urban
Councils, Rainwater Harvesting Forum, Universities, the Water Supply
Board get-together and take some proactive steps to popularise rain
water harvesting in Sri Lanka.
It is time that we put in to action the words of King Parakramabahu
the Great "Let not a drop of water be sent unutilised to the sea".
K.G.E.,
Nugegoda
Previously there was a department under the PWD which was responsible
for the construction and also the maintenance of bridges on the
highways. But at present I presume the maintenance of these bridges is
under the purview of the Highways Department or the RDA as they call it
now.
But see the state of the bridges. Even in the heart of Colombo near
Lake House, the bridge over the railway lines is totally neglected.
There are half a dozen or more Bo trees growing on the sides of the
bridge. Due to the roots penetrating the brickwork and concrete, it will
thus weaken the bridge.
Occasionally, some labourers will come and trim these parasites
leaving the roots, which sprout after the next shower of rains.
Why don't the authorities use a weedicide and eradicate the tree from
the root itself ? It is also observed that some persons have planted
heavy steel pipes on the bridge to erect hoardings. Due to the heavy
weight of the structure it will weaken the bridge too.
I hope the relevant authorities will take prompt action not only at
this specific place but also at other Government institutions etc.,
where there are many parasites growing on buildings etc., posing a
danger to the pubic who use these places.
TILAK FERNANDO,
Colombo 6
It is nice to know that at last someone from our tourism industry is
doing a sensible thing to promote tourism in Sri Lanka. Countries like
Malaysia, Indonesia, Maldives, India have been promoting their tourism
in the Middle East region for a long time aggressively because they have
realised the disposable income available in this region.
It is not only Qatar this campaign should spread to, but other
countries like UAE and Bahrain in the Middle East.
Our country can offer everything a tourist wants in the leisure
industry and with its close proximity it makes that much attractive. We
have so much beauty in Sri Lanka to show to the world and I hope the
Ministry of Tourism will advertise by using proper media channels with a
quality marketing campaign.
RANJ
"The salvation of mankind lies, only in making everything the concern
of all..." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Extracts of a Speech, on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature -
1970
The following written by 'Author unknown' is aptly reminiscent of the
attitudes of most people in all walks of life viz:-
That's not my job
This is a story about four people named, Everybody, Somebody, Anybody
and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure
that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did
it. Somebody got angry, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody
thought Anybody could do it. It ended up that, Everybody blamed
Somebody, when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
In the context of the above, if each one of us are vigilant and
focused on assisting in this war on terror, we should 'See that which we
are looking at and hear that which we are listening to', and assist the
Forces. We tend to forget after a while, complacency sets in when there
is a lull in the explosions, only to be rudely awakened to the realities
when another bomb has taken its toll.
Wake up mankind - the salvation of us all lies in making everything
the concern of all.
WASANTHKUMAR PERERA,
Ja-Ela
Since privatisation, the customer care and customer relations of the
SLT employees have been exemplary.
The service provided is of a high quality, efficient and expeditious.
However, all this is virtually nullified by the agencies to whom the
SLT outsourced certain ancillary functions.
While my request for a transfer of my phone on shifting residence was
attended to in a commendable expeditious manner by the SLT Kotte, the
agency entrusted this task by the SLT in ordinarily delayed the
transfer, and the manner the authorities responded to inquiries was most
unsatisfactorily, curt and indifferent.
It's indeed regrettable that the SLT outsourced agencies nullify the
good name and image of the SLT.
S.D. RATWATTE,
Colombo
Reader G.A.D. Sirimal (DN Jan. 26) is of the view that allowing
hospitals to remove organs from dead patients without explicit prior
consent is a good thing and that Sri Lanka should legislate for it.
I sincerely hope Sri Lanka doesn't because surely as night follows
day this will be abused and the surgeons placed in impossible positions
of playing God and asked to choose which life should be saved between
alternatives. E.g.: On the operating table is a tramp, seriously injured
but saveable and with compatible organs that could prolong the life of a
more dignified citizen.
Should the surgeon be duty bound to save the tramp or should he
prolong the life of the worthy citizen?
S. A. AHAMATH
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