Water Environment andits Management inSri Lanka
Dr. Saranga Alahapperuma
Director General
Central Environmental Authority
Sri LankaContent• Basic Country Information• Status of Water Resources in SL• State of Water Quality• Institutional Arrangements• Legal Frame Work• RecentDevelopments
inEnvironment ManagementWater

• About Sri Lanka– Rich in Natural Resources• 103 Rivers Cover All Island• More than 1000 Lakes– 9 Provinces and 25 Districts– Capital is Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte in
Colombo District– 65610 Km2 of Total Land Area
– 20 million Population– 2000 mm of Annual Average Rainfall Provides
131230 millions m3 of Fresh Water

Status of water Resources in SL• Annual Rain fall –wet zone – over 2000mm/year• Intermediate zone – between 1500‐ 2000 mm/year• Dry Zone – 1500 mm/year River basins – 103 Total length –4,500km• Total area of irrigation & multipurpose reservoirs – 169,941
hectares• Ground water Resources – 7,800 million m3 about 72% of therural population rely on ground water.
• Total Annual Fresh Water Withdrawals ‐ 13 billion m3 (2005)• Annual Fresh Water Withdrawals by sectors• Agriculture 87.3%• Industry 6.4%
• Municipal (including domestic) 6.2 %(Source : Central Bank Report 2010)

Water Quality Status (BOD, COD) of few Major
Water Courses in Sri Lanka
River/Lake

BOD, mg/l

COD, mg/l

Kelani River

210Bolgoda Lake

1‐220

Mahaoya

4‐510

Mahaweli River

5‐1015‐20

Gregory Lake

2‐420

Kandy Lake

718

Lunawa Lagoon

2550

Major Pollution Sources– Industrial Effluent– Domestic Effluents– Agricultural Activities– Solid Waste Disposal

Major Industrial Sectors contributingto water pollution• Chemical Industries• Food and Beverages• Alcohol and alcoholic beverages• Metal finishing Industries• Dairy Industries• Textile Industries• Leather Tanning Industries• Rubber Processing Industries• Desiccated coconut Industries• Agrochemical Industries• Pharmaceutical Industries• Clay & Glass Industries

Sewerage Generation and TreatmentPlants• Sanitation Type & Estimated Population Coverage•••

Piped Sewerage (Offsite)
Onsite Sanitation
Without Proper Sanitation
2,902,500 (14.3%)‐ 507,435 (02.5%)‐ 16,887,200 (83.2%)‐ (Includes Type Unknown/Other, Pit Latrines) ‐Typeconstructed for EPZ totreat industrial effluentsConstructed for
Housing schemes totreat domestic WWOn going
Projects major/ minor

Number101318

Institutional Arrangements•

Central Environmental Authority
Overall responsibility for protecting water Environment•

National Water Supply & Drainage Board‐ Drinking water and sewage
Management•

Water Resources Board –responsible for preparation of comprehensive andintegrated plans for conservation, utilization, control and development of thegroundwater resources in SriLanka.

•Department of Irrigation – Regulation & control of inland waters•

Mahaweli Authority – Maintenance of Mahaweli River and its reservoirs fordevelopment of lands for agriculture.

•National Aquatic Resources Agency – Conduct Researches on Aquatic Resources•

Department of Coast Conservation – Conservation of the coastal zone andmanagement of its resources.

•Marine Pollution Prevention Authority‐ protect the marine environment fromship based and shore based maritime related activity.

Legal frame work•••

1980 ‐ National Environmental Act (NEA) No. 47
1981 ‐ CEA Established1988 ‐ NEA Amended to include Regulatory Provisions – Amendment Act No. 56 of1988 Regulatory tools.
– Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure(EIA Procedure for major projects)– Environmental Protection Licencing Procedure (EPL procedure for prescribedIndustries/Activities)

1990 Regulations gazetted in relation to EPL andWaste Water Discharge Standards.
Gazette Extraordinary No. 595/16
dated 1990 February 02.
2000 ‐ NEA Amended to Prescribe the EPL Requiring
Activities – Amendment Act No. 53.
–Gazette Extraordinary No. 1159/22 dated
2000 November 22–Gazette Extraordinary No. 1533/16 dated• 2008 January 25. Regulations gazetted in relation to scheduled waste management andrevised waste water discharge standards. Gazette Extraordinary No. 1534/18 dated
2008 February 01

Ambient Water Quality Standards• Draft stage• Need comments to review and gazetteWaste Water Discharge Standards• Tolerance limits for the discharge of Industrial waste
into Inland Surface waters.
• Tolerance limits for Industrial waste Discharged on land
for irrigation Purposes.
• Tolerance limits for Industrial and Domestic waste
Discharged into Marine Coastal Areas.
• Tolerance limits for waste from Rubber Factories being
Discharged into Inland Surface waters.
• Tolerance limits for waste from Textile Factories being
Discharged into Inland Surface Waters.
• Tolerance limits for waste from being Discharged fromTanning Industries.
• Tolerance limits for discharged of effluents into publicSewers with Central Treatment Plants.

Recent developments in water Environment
Management• Policy & regulatory developments‐ Haritha Lanka Programme‐ Review existing ED standards with introduction of newdischarging modes‐ WDF Programme• Sewerage network expansion• Introduction of new strategies to control
industrial wastewater• Establish Compliance Assistance Centers and introduce low cost methods
to treat effluents• Regular monitoring and strengthening of EPL scheme• Regular monitoring in selected water bodies• Mission 07 “Water for all & always”– Strategy 04 – keep drinking water sources free fromcontamination– Strategy 06 – enforce polluter pays principle for waterpollution industries & activities– Strategy 08 – Reduce fertilizer leaching and eutrophication• Mission 09 “ Greening the Industries”– Strategy 01 ‐ Consolidate cleaner production in industries– Strategy 02 ‐ Eco Industrial parks– Strategy 03 – Certification of industries ISO 14000– Strategy 04 – Greening the supply chain– Strategy 06 – Incentives for environmental friendly
investments

Achievement of the policy development• Initiate programmes related to Haritha Lanka
Mission 07 & 09
• Improvement & review of regulatory provisions
and introduction of new legal tools (WDF) tothe Act amendments• Improvement of sewerage networks andprojects under NWSDB (Mahinda Chinthanaya
Programme)Current & Future Challenges– Lack of affordable pollution control techniques for small &medium scale enterprises.
– Weaknesses in law enforcement and lack of regular monitoring.
– Lack of awareness for environmental concerns amongindustrialists hence failures in self reporting system.
– Improper law enforcement by local government authorities.
Unavailability of proper zoning plans in local government
authorities in the country as a whole.
– Lack of systematic collection system for data and periodical
analysis and issues such as quality and availability with respect toaccess.
– Lack of coordination in relevant institutions.
– Strengthen capacity building programmes and compliancemonitoring.

THANK YOU