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by M S M Aslah

Water occupies a prominent place among the basic needs of man. In fact, the survival of any living being depends on the availability of water. It is, therefore, a vital responsibility of all of us to pervent pollution and wastage of water.

Water, in fact, assumes importance as a life-sustaining drink as well as a purifying agent at the same time. It is a tragic fact that about 40% of purified water supplied to the people of Urban Sri Lanka is wasted. This means, inspite of the huge investment made, water wasted generates no income to the government.

Though it has been estimated that 75% of the surface of the earth is covered with water only 2.5% of it has been identified as water fit for human consumption. Seventy percent (70%) of the world's water resource consists of arctic ice and ice caps of high mountains of various regions. Every human being for his or her various needs requires about 1000 cubic metres of water a year. About 20% of the world population has been deprived of the privilege of the availability of pure drinking water.

The United Nations has declared the 22nd of March as the World Water Day with the intention of drawing the attention of the world to the need to protect and conserve the water resource.

This international day first came to be observed in the year 1993. In Sri Lanka too, for the commemoration of the Day the Water Supply and Drainage Board under the partronage of the Ministry of Housing and Plantation Infrastructure, has organized several programmes to be implemented to commemorate the World Water Day. A programme has been organized to be implemented impressing on school children the importance of protecting the water resource, which culminates, with award of prizes to winners at competitions.

The government strives to realize the objective of providing pure drinking water to all by the year 2010. There are several major scale projects well planned and launched by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, funded by foreign aid, to reach this target. It has been found necessary to provide the increasing population, the business places and factories with pipe-borne water.

Today in Sri Lanka, the percentage of the population enjoying the facility is stated to be 31. Others obtain their water needs from sources such as tube wells, rivers, wells and ponds. But, it is doubtful whether the water obtained from these sources is pure enough and conducive to good health. Presently, pure drinking water is distributed to the people through about 280 water supply schemes.

Water from rivers or reservoirs is pumped to these centres and distributed to consumers through a system of pipe-lines after a process of purification by treatment with chemicals for removal of harmful bacteria and germs. Although water obtained from these sources is free of any charge, much expense is involved in purification, distribution and other functions such as maintenance of water supply schemes.

The income from water charges is said to suffice only to meet the cost of water purification and maintenance of the system. In view of the inadequacy of this income to start new projects, several international donor agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japanese Agency for International Co-operation and the German Institute for Technical Assistance are giving us aid for the purpose.

Now, the ADB encourages private investment in this field and today in a number of Asian countries, private investment plans are being implemented. In Sri Lanka, the success of private investment in this field is still under observation. It has been reported that in Malaysia and Indonesia several water projects operated successfully by the private sectors.

The Asian Development Bank in its latest report makes particular mention that the 21st century intends drawing special attention of the world community to the gravity of the water supply problem. The ADB report estimates that by the year 2025, the population of People's China and India would increase respectively by 1.5 billion and 1.4 billion.

The same report reveals that consequently in both these countries having very large populations, it could be expected that the amount of consumption of potable water could fall from 2200 cubic metres (present amounts to 1600 cubic metres. According to this report about 500 million of the population inhabiting the continent of Asia do not get pure water for their consumption. Also, about 20 million of them are not provided with adequate sanitary facilities.

A large number of them, therefore are suffering from water related diseases.

This is a serous problem that low-income receivers are faced with and in view of this, all countries face the serious challenge of providing the masses with pure drinking water. Scientists foretel that the people of the world could by 2025 face difficulty in providing themselves with even the minimum of its water needs.

It is estimated that the present population of 19 million of Sri Lanka, would increase to 23 million by 2025. Also it is expected that due to rapid urbanization the present urban population of 06 million could increase to 14 million by that date. In addition, developing agriculture and industrial sectors would need a considerable amount of more water, and the impact of such a situation on a developing country like that of ours could be of serious proportations. To face challenges of this nature, it would be necessary to harness modern scientific technology to augment the water supply to the people.

Wastage and use of existing water resource without a sense of economy, have further aggravated the water crisis. Surveys have revealed that wastage of pure water distributed is most to be seen in the urban sector. It has been estimated that our urban water consumers let go down the drain almost about 40% of the water distributed to their areas.

In this respect we become second only to water consumers of Bangladesh in the world scene. In Germany and Singapore the wastage is as low as 5 to 8 percent. In Sri Lanka at present a person actually needs about 100 to 115 litres of water per day, but actual use ranges between 180 to 200 litres. In countries like South Africa the quantity of water allocated per person has been limited to 15 litres.

The main factor contributing to this very large scale of water wastage can safely be identified as public water taps provided in urban areas. As wasteful and extravagant use of water from public water taps does not entail any expense to the user, wastage of water is seen to be very common in using them.

Therefore, The National Water Supply and Drainage Board has had to devise a means to maintain at a minimum, the number of units of water supplied by it to the consumer free of charge.

Accordingly, a programme of gradually eliminating public water taps and providing low-income earners with water connections to their homes from the general pipe-borne water supply system at low rates of charges. The Japanese Bank for International Cooperation has made available funds amounting to about 3,000 million Rupees for the implementation of this "non-revenue water reduction programme".

Wastage and pollution of water, environmental pollution which aggravates all these causes, can be identified as the factors presenting the major challenges as regards to water supply. The attention of all has to be drawn strongly to the paramount needs such as protection of the water sources and the water resource and, use of available water economically.

The National Water Supply and Drainage Board is strongly committed to realize the Governments objecive of providing pure drinking water to all by the year 2010 and to manage the water resource under the guidance of the Government for that purpose.

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