Ground Water Management Issues with Reference to Dry Zone of Sri Lanka

The value of water as a finite natural resource is becoming more and more highlighted, due to its depletion and pollution. Although the situation is equally appalling with both ground and surface water, the latter is given prominence merely due to the fact that surface water pollution is more visible. About 60-70% of Sri Lankans have access to a safe drinking water source, but only a mere 30-40% enjoy the luxury of pipe borne water. Still ground water is the major drinking water source for many rural areas of the country, and more importantly it’s the major water-source of the rural-poor.

Issues related to ground water in the dry zone of Sri Lanka range from depletion of deep confined aquifers due to poorly planned tube well schemes to pollution of shallow unconfined aquifers due to leaching of chemical fertilizer. Large numbers of fluorosis case are reported from the North-western and South-eastern areas of the country owing to the geo-chemistry of the area. The ground water issues are not only physical in nature; concerns are being raised by many experts in the country about the water rights of ground water aquifers in the already water stressed areas of the dry zone and possibilities of conflicts in future industrialization of these areas. The market liberalization policies adopted by the Sri Lankan government in the late 70s dramatically changed the resources utilization patterns of the country, little research has been done on the impact of these shift in policy on the dry zone groundwater resources.

This paper highlights the present day issues related to the management of groundwater in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka and critically review the institutional roles with regard to this. It also focuses on the groundwater issues created by the Tsunami disaster of December 2004.