News
Drip-feed of information irritates Colombo
A sight of a water bowser made everyone run after it in the hope of fetching a bucket or two of water. Where there was a well, there were hundreds of males, females and children who flocked to the location day in and out continuously for two or three days to collect some water needed for their basic day to day needs. While heaps of dirty linen and utensils piled up in households, those who had to set off for work were left with no option but to rush to a friend or relative who had water.
The picture brought to life, a mini drought of sorts – this was a bitter experience encountered by residents of Colombo and suburbs in the by gone week as a water cut originally announced by the Water Supply and Drainage Board in Colombo areas for a 36 hour water cut extending to over 72 hours.
The water cut was announced from Saturday 9 a.m. to Sunday 9 p.m. in Kotte Municipal area, Battaramulla, Malabe, Thalangama, Koswatte Kalapaluwawa, Halbarawa, Hokandrara, Thalawathugoda, Jayawadenegama and suburbs, Kalalgoda, Maharagama, Boralasgamuwa, Kottawa Urban Council area, Havelock Road, Colombo 05, High Level Road from Railway Avenue junction, Kirulapone junction and all connected by roads, Baseline Road from Kirulapone junction to Borella and all connected by roads, Kynsey Road, Cotta Road and Castle Street.
While Water Board officials said the water cut was to connect the newly laid water pipeline under the road development carried out for the construction of the new bridge in Polduwa-Battaramulla, to the main pipeline from Ambatale-Kotte that supplies water to these areas, opposition MP Dr. Harsha de Silva alleged that it was to expedite the Urban Development Authority’s (UDA’s) leisure boat project by raising the Polduwa bridge near Parliament.
With water board officials failing to resume the supply on time due to what they claimed was an ‘unexpected problem,’ areas such as Embuldeniya, Delkande, Maharagama, Udahamulla, Jambugasmulla, Mirihana, Pita Kotte, Nugegoda became the worst affected with a water cut of over 96 hours. It is learnt that under the Kotte area engineers division, there are 45,000 connections of which the monthly consumption is 975,000 units.
The situation inconvenienced young, old and the feeble while patients and even students who are sitting for the G.C.E Advanced Level this time were not spared of the agony. Adding to the people’s agony was the frustration and irritation over their failed attempts to get through to the water board hotline or the emergency numbers,
Chandima Nishanthi from Embuldeniya said, the well at her home came as a saviour for many families along the road desperately looking for water.
Chandima a mother of two young children hurriedly washes loads of clothes
“Families with little children found it so hard to manage. They came to our well with nappies and baby clothes. We had a lightbulb fixed near the well as people kept coming even at midnight,” she said.
Seemingly annoyed area residents said what irritated them the most was when people got on to the streets of Embuldeniya when an announcement was made that there will be a water bowser coming to the area only to go back home with empty buckets.
“This was a major issue to families with daily wage earners as most of the men were searching for water. From three wheelers to cars, people were seen transporting water,” Chandima said.
On Tuesday morning, many women like Chandima were seen hurriedly washing loads of clothes.
K. Nisansala who has two kids below the age of five was highly inconvenienced as she had no water to even prepare milk for her kids.
“We could not cook, instead bought from out. We collected a little water for toilet use from a tube well nearby. I am down with the flu, after carrying water day and night. After we started getting water, I washed all the clothes despite a body ache,” she said.
Some of the parents of those sitting for A/L examination who spoke to the Sunday Times scoffed at the authorities for not being mindful of the A/L students before embarking on an activity such as this.
Lakshman Perera, the father of an A/L student from Mirihana said having run out the water they collected they remained one and half days without water, and with no alternative in place either. “There are four family members and after we finished the water in the tank we were highly inconvenienced, especially because it was just before my son’s examination. He could not wash his face or bathe. With an exam around the corner, he had no time to run around looking for water either. By Monday we were getting a bit anxious as the following day was his exam,” the father explained.
For whom or for what was the water supply from this main pipeline disrupted bringing many a hardship to people?
Those running fast food joints in areas were at a complete loss as they could not engage in business for several days but the demand for bread kept the bread deliverers busy, the Sunday Times learns.
Owner of Lakfood, an eatery in Jubilee Post Mirihana Kanchana Perera said, their restaurant was closed for three days and they incurred a loss of about Rs. 25000, she says. “If it is just for a day, we could have collected some water, but how can we cook large scale quantities for four days without having enough water to wash the vegetables and utensils. Also the customers do not like it when there is no tap water to wash their hands,” she says.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Sri Jayawardene Hospital Dr. S.A.K Gamage said, initially they were prepared for the 36 hour water cut as they took alternative measures such as giving bottled water for the patients and staff, canceling a few routine surgeries that were scheduled for the weekend, getting down water bowsers with the assistance of the Water Board and the Army, etc and it was only after the water cut extended beyond the said deadline that the hospital encountered problems.
Cleaning of the hospital toilets become a difficult task and some of the expectant mothers who were awaiting deliveries were sent back advising them to comeback in few days time. The hospital’s main laboratory could not carry out investigations, he said. The water supplies started returning to normal only on Tuesday, but some were getting muddy water and some found that the meters were working, but no water was coming.
Lakshman Perera, the father of an A/L student from Mirihana
When contacted the Kotte Area Manager H.M Abeykone Bandara said an unexpected technical problem was encountered while carrying out the work resulting in the delay while adverse weather conditions also hampered the task to a certain extent. When it was dug up, it was detected that the shape of the underground pipe on either side of the bridge had become oval in shape thereby making it impossible to couple with the 
newly laid pipe using the standard pipe cuttings. This required modifications done, which was a time consuming activity. “By Monday the pumping started but it failed because it was pumping on high risk,” he added.
Mr. Abeykone said, the plan put in place was to connect the water supply from alternate lines for example, for areas like Maharagama, the plan was to provide water from the Kalatuwawa supply, and even for Colombo 05, supply could be given to a certain extent. “But for areas in Kotte, it is not possible to divert the supply from other areas. For these areas 12 bowsers were sent,” he said.
While the official website of the Water Board now carries a water supply restoration notice, the turn of events over the week gives the officials something to ponder over in order prevent the repetition of such in the future.
The questions among the public whether officials do not have proper contingency plans when such projects are undertaken and as to why the Water Board fails to inform the public when water cuts are extended still remains.
The issue about the failure of the Board to keep the public informed about extension of water cuts was raised with President Mahinda Rajapaksa when editors of newspapers met with him at a meeting on Tuesday.