Safe drinking water for all

Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Government has planned to provide safe drinking water to 100 percent of the urban population, 90 percent of the rural and 80 percent in the estate sector by 2016. Similarly, improved sanitation facilities are to be provided to 95 percent of the urban population, 85 percent of rural and 75 percent of the estate sector.

According to the 2008 report of the Department of External Resources of the Finance and Planning Ministry, Sri Lanka has achieved relatively higher standard in the supply of drinking water compared to other developing countries.

Nearly 85 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water. However, sector-wise coverage varies from 95.9 percent in urban areas to 61.0 per cent each in rural areas and the estate sector.

The major investment in the provision of safe water and sanitation comes in the form of foreign aid.

In 2007, the commitment of foreign aid to the water sector was US$ 254.8 million while the donors had committed US$ 231.9 million by the end of September 2008. At present there are 28 donor funded water sector projects being implemented throughout the country, the report said.

The institutional structure of water supply and sanitation in Sri Lanka has three levels; Central Government, Provincial Councils and Local Government Authorities.

The Government’s approach to provide safe drinking water and proper sanitation is two pronged. While pipe borne water is provided to urban and newly industralised rapidly expanding areas, the safe drinking water and sanitation to backward rural districts are provided through community based water and sanitation systems. Such projects are being implemented in Batticaloa, Hambantota, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Muttur, a Water Supply and Drainage Ministry spokesman said.

Meanwhile, major cities such as Colombo, Kandy, Galle and Negombo are benefitted from the donor funded water supply projects. In addition, large scale projects have been implemented to cover newly urbanised and industralised areas such as North of Colombo, Town South of Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Greater Trincomalee, he said.

The Water Supply and Drainage Ministry has implemented Secondary Towns and Rural Community Based Water Supply and Sanitation Projects in Batticaloa, Hambantota, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee and Anuradhapura to provide drinking water to 969,000 people and sanitation to 174,000 people. The ADB had agreed to provide US$ 135 million to this project of which US$ 47.3 million had been disbursed up to end of August 2008.

The ADB has also agreed to provide US$ 83 million to improve the basic water supply and sanitation infrastructure services in disadvantaged districts namely: Puttalam, Mannar, Vavuniya and Chilaw.

The spokesman said the Denmark Government has provided Euro 52 million for the construction of Kelani Right Bank Water Treatment Plant under the Danish Mixed Credit program. The construction work of this project which commenced in October 2008 is expected to be completed in October 2010. The project will improve the water supply to Colombo City and the Towns, North of the Colombo City.

The Government has also implemented Ruhunupura Water Supply Project to meet the current demand for water supply in Hambantota. This project will provide water supply to 75,000 people and other development activities in Hambantota district. The total estimated cost of the project is US$ 116 million of which US$ 76 million will be provided by the Korean Government. The project which commenced early this year is scheduled to be completed in 2012, he added.