Landslides waiting to happen in Kandy

SUDUHUMPALA, Kandy - Going up a slippery slope with rough steps cut out of the soil takes you into the village of Suduhumpala, located on a mountainside in Kandy. Most houses are roughly built, with kitchens opening into their neighbour’s veranda. From a distance only the tin roofs of the houses can be seen.

Environmentalists say that the village of Suduhumpala is a disaster waiting to happen. Too many houses built too close to each other with no thought given to planning will soon result in a landslide, experts say.

There are about 500 families in the village, each with its own septic tank and outlets for waste water. All this adds up to a large amount of water being released into the soil without proper planning, loosening up the soil. At the moment, cracks can be seen appearing on the walls of some houses while others have cemented cracks that have appeared on the floor, due to the ground sinking.

L. K. J. Gamage, matriarch of the Gamage family speaking to The Sunday Times FT lamented the conditions that they have to live in. “We have been living here for more than 25 years. We came here from Hantana because there was not enough room there” she said. Thakshinamurthy Thilakeshwaran is another who spoke to us. His house was sturdier than most of the clapboard houses that were present on the hill but even this showed signs of wear and tear. The floor had sunk in a few inches and cement plastering has been employed to patch the cracks.

The land on which the Suduhumpala village has sprung up belongs to the Suduhumpala Rajamaha Viharaya. The residents of each house pay a sum of Rs 600 to the temple each year, they said.

Contrasted with this badly planned catastrophe waiting to happen, on the mountain face opposite the Suduhumpala hill is a housing scheme where the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) has set up a mechanism for collecting all the sewerage and waste water from the entire scheme to one point, purifying it and releasing it. As the water is not released into the soil, the risk of landslides is very low.

The trip to Suduhumpala was part of a workshop organized for the media by NetWater and Centre for Environmental Justice with support from the Sri Lanka Water Partnership and held at the Swiss Residence, Kandy on October 14-15.

Sunil Jayaweera of the National Building Research Organization, speaking at the workshop pointed out the many failings of the system when planning permits are given to construct building on the hills. He pointed out that the form that is required to be filled by a prospective builder is unsuitable for the area. “It asks the distance from the sea but not information that is more important to the mountainous area such as the inclination or the type of soil,” he said, going on to say that instead of a separate and suitable form, the one that is used in the lowlands as been transplanted in the mountainous areas as well. Slides with pictures of landslides that have occurred and disasters waiting to happen brought home the frightening truth that most areas in Sri Lanka’s central hills are dangerous areas that are landslide prone. Most of these danger zones are man made, as was seen in Suduhumpala. “Ratnapura is facing a risk of becoming a floating city because illegal gem mining loosens the soil,” he said adding that there is a network of tunnels underground that is almost as complex as the road network on the surface.

Missaka Hettiarachchi, Dr Deepthi Wickramasinghe and Dr Champa Navaratne of the Universities of Moratuwa, Colombo and Ruhuna respectively enlightened the media on how water pollution happens in many ways, some which cannot be seen but the effects can be felt. Hettiarachchi, a Senior Researcher from the Faculty of Engineering elaborated on the effects of the Sri Lankan water crisis.

Solid waste being dumped in waterways is a huge problem, according to Hettiarachchi. “There have been some waterways in Sri Lanka where the Coliform levels have reached over 3000 per 100ml. This is a shocking rise when considering that at 1000 per 100 ml it is unsuitable for human contact, he said. Explaining what Coliform is Hettiarachchi said that it is a microbe that is present when the water is contaminated with faecal matter.

“Human activities have lead to the rapid decline of water that is suitable for consumption,” he said, showing pictures of solid waste being dumped into the Bolgoda Lake and toilets of houses along the Negombo Lagoon which open out into the lagoon blatant acts of pollution being carried out with no thought for the environment.

Dr Deepthi Wickramasinghe, a Senior Lecturer from the University of Colombo, spoke on how pollution of water bodies affects the flora and fauna of the country. Citing an example, she said “Puntius bandula is a species of fish that is not only endemic to Sri Lanka but is also only found in the Kegalle district. If their existence is threatened in Kegalle, they will be lost forever, as they’re not found anywhere else.”

Wickramasinghe also showed pictures of how animals such as frogs, which are very sensitive to changes in the environment are affected. Mutations leading to frogs with extra limbs are very common, she explained. This is because they have skin which is very sensitive to changes in their habitat and when toxic substances are found in water bodies they affect genetic mutations leading to deformed animals being born.

Senior Lecturer at the University of Ruhuna, Dr Champa Navaratne spoke on how the underground water table is polluted and how it affects human life as well as those of other organisms. One such example is Fluorosis which is caused by ingestion of excess amounts of fluorides. This phenomenon can be seen in areas such as Anuradhapura, Vavuniya and Kiribathkumbura near Kandy. “The water in that area is naturally rich with fluorides,” she explained, “but until recently the groundwater was not tapped into by humans. When groundwater is consumed, with the use of tube wells it increases the concentration of fluorides in the water. This water, when consumed leads to dental and skeletal Fluorosis.”

Dental Fluorosis is evident in people who have discoloured teeth. “This condition is not reversible and only gets worse with time,” Dr. Navaratne explained. Skeletal Fluorosis affects the bones, making them brittle and with time people afflicted with this disease cannot walk without the support of walking stick. “Ground water pollution is an invisible crisis,” she said.

Another disease caused by polluted water is Blue Baby Syndrome, where infants are born blue. Excess amounts of nitrates in the water, which are a result of pesticides washing into water bodies. Over time, it accumulates in the body and results in Blue Baby Syndrome which can and has even lead to the death of the babies.

Sunil Shanthasiri, a senior Sociologist attached to the ADB aided, third water supply and sanitation project in Kegalle, shared stark statistics caused by polluted water and lack of safe drinking water. About 6000 children die everyday in the world due to lack of clean water and sanitation. It is equivalent to 20 jumbo jets being destroyed, he said. Also, a woman walks an average of six kilometres a day in Asia and Africa to fetch water and carries around 20 kilograms on her head.

The workshop highlighted the plight that Sri Lanka will face if water resources of the country are not protected and conserved as the consequences of a water crisis will indeed be dire.