Nearly 130,000 people in 12 districts have been adversely affected by the prevailing drought.
The water level of 73 main reservoirs controlled by the Irrigation Department has dropped to about 30 percent. Consequently, thousands of acres of paddy cultivation are at risk of being destroyed owing to lack of water.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) states that 99,594 people of 30,862 families in the Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Manner, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Ratnapura, Badulla, Kurunegala, and Puttalam district are facing an acute shortage of drinking water due to the long spell of dry weather.
According to the latest reports of the National Disaster Relief Services Centre under the Disaster Management Ministry, nearly 115,579 people belonging to 35,794 families in seven districts (Ampara, Badulla, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Moneragala, Puttalam and Ratnapura) are now being provided with drinking water.
Over 69,000 people in Jaffna have been affected by the drought with Chankanai being the most affected area since June.
The Meteorology Department states that there will not be enough rainfall till October and that the Southwest Monsoon did not provide sufficient rainfall to Sri Lanka this year, presumably owing to the El Nino effect.
S.K. TISSERA, Chilaw Group Corr.
