News
Walawe water unfit for consumption
Since 1930 statutory enactments have been enacted to protect river banks and reservations.
An outlet from a toilet flowing directly into the Walawe
Despite river bank reservations being clearly demarcated, a number of illegal settlements have sprung up on either side of the Walawe Ganga.
Due to a lack of planning no provision was made to meet the requirements of population increases, and the number of illegal hutments on the river bank too keeps expanding.
These hutments together with the construction of toilets with outlets directly into the river has increased the pollution of its waters, which in turn has affected the quality of drinking water. The contaminated water resources are now posing a major health hazard in the Southern Province.
The Walawe Ganga provides the only buffer stock of drinking water reserves in the south of the country and settlements on its banks are polluting its waters.
This situation is worsened when the river overflows during the monsoon when the muck and filth in septic tanks and other garbage gets washed into the river.
During the rainy season this garbage too gets washed into the river
The settlements on its banks too are extremely unhygienic. They are a breeding ground for disease. In addition today sand mining too is also taking place.
The cause of these problems has been administrative negligence which allowed the setting up of the illegal settlements and no effort made to remove them.
Today the National Water Supply and Drainage Board is faced with a major problem to provide drinking water to thousands of residents in Ambanlantota and its suburbs as the river water is unfit for human consumption.
The settlements are unhygienic and a breeding ground for disease.
All manner of refuse is being dumped along the riverbank
A collection of garbage including broken TV sets and a large collection of plastic bottles lie on the banks of the river