Progress of Water Environment
Governance in Sri Lanka
Dr. R. M. S. K. Rathnayake
Director – Environment Pollution Control
Central Environmental Authority
Sri Lanka
The 14th WEPA Annual Meeting
22 February 2019
Tokyo1

Content
1. General Information on Sri Lanka
2. Water Quality of Water Ways
3. Domestic Wastewater Management
4. Industrial Wastewater Management
5. Legislative Framework for Water Environment
6. Institutional Framework for Water Environment
7. Water Quality Monitoring
8. Enforcement Instruments
9. Issues, Challengers and Way Forward2

1. General Information• About Sri Lanka
 9 Provinces and 25 Districts
 Capital is Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte in
Colombo District
 65610 Km2 of Total Land Area
 21.67 million Population
 2000 mm of Annual Average Rainfall Provides
1,31,230 millions m3 of Fresh Water
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Status of Annual Rainfall in Sri Lanka• Annual Rain fall –wetzone – over2000mm/year• Intermediate zone –between 1500‐ 2000mm/year• Dry Zone – 0‐1500
mm/year River basins– 103 Total length– 4,500km
Annual Rainfall in Sri Lanka
Department of Meteorology, Sri Lanka

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Water Resources & Water withdrawal• Natural Resources 103 Rivers Cover All Island 10,000 Major, Medium & Minor Reservoirs• Total area of irrigation & multipurpose reservoirs –169,941 hectares• Ground water Resources – 7,800 million m3 about 72% of
the rural 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)
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2.

Water Quality of Water Ways

• Water Quality (2014‐18 – NWSDB‐UoP)
SamplingLocation
Groundwater
Farm LandSW Dump Area
City
Surface Water
Lake Water
Urban Canal
River Water

TDS
mg/L

E.coli
cfu/100ml

COD
mg/L

TSS
mg/L

BOD5
mg/L

PO43mg/L

NO3mg/L

160‐172270-296
80-10522‐40
10-790
4-680

10‐13
12‐20
16‐20

140‐155
13-93
6‐58

‐
‐
‐

0.3‐0.6
0.2‐0.5
0.2‐0.4

0.3‐0.5
3.1‐6.2
0.3‐7.4

110‐155
32‐18429‐315

10‐1600
230‐1400
6‐164

2‐34
12‐1303‐34

32‐98
32‐18473‐4402.4‐11.9
3‐61
1.3‐3.3

0.05‐0.12
0.08‐1.67
0.2‐0.91

0.8‐200.4‐1.3
1.9‐147

3.

Domestic Wastewater Management
Sewerage Generation and Treatment Plants• 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) ‐Type

constructed for EPZ totreat industrial effluentsConstructed for
Housing schemes totreat domestic WW

On going
Projects major/ minorNumber1013188

4. Industrial Wastewater Management
Industry Categorization/CEA– High Polluting (A)– Medium Polluting (B)– Low Polluting (C)– +BOI Industries– TOTAL

13002
10493
25311
1103
49909

Industry Categorization/MI&C– Large Scale– Small & Medium Scale
9Compliance to the Standards• ~70% of A & B type are wastewater generating
activities including Hotels‐ about 16500• Compliance % of A & B‐ 85%• Total compliance of wastewater generating
industries – about 14000

10Industrial summary update up to 20191

Western2

Southern

3

Eastern

4

Uva

5

Central6

North Central

7

Sabaragamuwa

8Northern

9North WesternTotal% of each Category

Total BOIIndustry

Total A, B, C& BOI
Industry

Total "C"
category

District

As at 31.01.2019

Total "B"category#Province

Total "A"
category

Total A, B, C & BOI Industry

ColomboGampahaKalutara
Galle
MataraHambantota
Trincomalee
AmapraBatticaloa
BadullaMoneragala
Kandy
MataleN'Eliya

5955
5759
2749
2773
2361
2578
1058
1837
1178
1750
2457
3839
1502
808

2284
2113
849
595
453
398
262
331
211
444
295
760
339
201

1324
1286
603
849
490
304
217
332
349
257
171
636
210
149

2095
2054
1165
1249
1394
1842
559
1156
605
1033
1896
2393
930
439

252
306
132
80
24
34
20
18
13
16
95
50
23
19

Anuradhapura
Polonnaruwa
Ratnapura
KegalleJaffnaMannarVavuniya
Kilinochchi
Mullaitivu
Kurunegala
Puttalam

2489
850
3038
2180
1833
482
396
542
411
902
278
50,005

629
215
629
547
408
99
142
61
68
475
194
13,002
26

371
242
730
690
326
116
71
154
105
427
84
10,493
21

1460
383
1647
915
1095
266
175
323
237
0
0
25,311
51

29
10
32
28
4
1
8
4
100
1,199
2

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Industry Distribution of
Sri Lanka 2017

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5.Legislative framework for water environment• Constitution– Chapter VI, 27‐(14): The state shall protect, preserveand improve the environment for the benefit of thecommunity– Chapter VI, 28‐(f): It is the duty of every person in SriLanka to protect nature and conserve its riches• National Laws
• Provincial Statutes– 13th amendment of Constitution• Local Government Authority Laws

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National Laws
• National Environmental Act• National Water Supply and Drainage Board Act• Water Resources Board Act• Marine Environmental Protection Act• Coast Conservation Act• Board of Investment Act• MASL Act16National Environmental Act (NEA)• 1980‐ National Environmental Act (NEA)
No. 47• 1988‐ Amendment Act No. 56• 2000‐ Amendment Act No. 53• Regulatory tools.
– EIA– EPL– WML• Wastewater Discharge Standards
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Tolerance Limits for Some Important Water
Quality Parameters
TSS

BOD

Oil &Grease

COD

Pesticide

Faecal Coli
form

Inland surface

50

30

10250

0.005

40

Irrigation

210
0250

10400-

40

Marine coastal

150

100

202500.005

40

Common TP

500

350

30

8500.2-

Rubber- latex
std.

100
1006050-400400--Textile

5060

10250--Tanning- ISWMC100150601001020250300--18

Other Acts
• National Water Supply and Drainage Board Act– Protect water works, sanitation• Water Resources Board Act– Regulate ground water withdrawals• Marine Environmental Protection Act– Protect marine water• Coast Conservation Act– Protect coastal area

• Board of Investment Act– Regulate investment projects• MASL Act– Protect mahaweli area/water19

6. Institutional Framework for Water Environment•Central Environmental Authority ‐ Overall responsibility for protectionand management of water Environment•National Water Supply & Drainage Board‐ Drinking water and sewageManagement•

Water Resources Board ‐ Groundwater management•Department of Irrigation – Irrigation water•

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

•National Aquatic Resources Agency – Conduct Researches on AquaticResources•

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

•Marine Environment Prevention Authority‐ protect the marine environment
from ship based and shore based maritime related activity.

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7. Water quality monitoring framework
By CEA
EnvironmentalPollution Control
UnitCEAWater Quality
Monitoring Unit(Laboratory)

District &Provincial
Laboratories

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Water Quality Monitoring• Kelani River• 17 points (once in a month)• Mahaweli River, Dadugam Oya ,Benthota River, Mahaoya• 12 points (once in a month)• Kandy Lake
• 10 locations (every 3 months)• To be started in 2019
• 3 main water bodies (Kurunegala Tank ,Gregory Lake Nuwara Eliya,Nuwara Wewa Anuradhapura) –• 12 locations in each river (once in a month)• Parameters• BOD, COD, TSS, pH, Coli form, Phosphate, Nitrate, Heavy metals

22• National Water Supply and Drainage Board• Monitor daily for their intake water (purification fordrinking)• Basic parameters only23

8. Enforcement instruments
Enforced by CEA
 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)• If any water discharging or water related industry
prescribed under the EIA regulation
 Environmental Protection Licence (EPL)• All prescribed activities need to obtain EPL foroperation• By the time need to comply standards
 Scheduled Waste Management Licence (WML)• An activity work with any scheduled waste, needto obtain WML
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Implementation of EPL System• High Polluting (A) – EPL for 1 Year or less
• Monitor every 6 or 3 months period• Effluent quality reports• Self reporting quarterly or biannually• At least once in year by CEA• Inspection/monitoring• Biannually or annually• Randomly if any complaints• Violations• Suspend or cancel the licence and file a case
• Not less than 10000 Rs. or imprisonment or both25

Enforcement by Other Agencies• By Water Resources Board• Need approval for ground water withdrawals(commercial scale)• By Marine Environment Protection Authority• Need discharge permit to discharge any wastewater tothe sea.

• Mahaweli Authority• Protect mahaweli reservoirs from discharges26

9. Issues, Challengers and Way ForwardIssues and Challengers• Implementation barriers of laws and regulations onindustries• Absence of zoning plans• Financial constrains in SMEs
• Disposal systems for industrial sludge• Difficulties in calculation of total waste load to water bodies• Poor guidance to industries• Lack of proper legal framework for non point source
pollutions eg. Agricultural wastes• Cost for centralized domestic wastewater treatment systems• Public protests for establishment of common WWT systems• Management issues in wastewater from apartmentcomplexes
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Future Plans and Way Forward• Implementation of monitoring plan for major waterbodies• Provide proper guidance to industries through relevant
authorities‐ MOIC, BOI• Prevent ground water pollution by preparation ofregulation for soil pollution control• Establish legal framework to control non point sources
pollution.
• Required amendments to the NEA• Ambient water quality stds and river waterclassification• Establishment of real time monitoring systems withpublic private partnership programmes

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