Where is the water?
View(s):While last week, Kussi Amma Sera was afflicted by a bout of uncontrollable laughter reading about a proposal from a minister to create a costly airport at the Colombo port, this week it was a case of being distraught.
“Mahattaya, balanna. Minisunta kochchara amaaru..da wathura nethi hinda,” she said with sadness, watching on TV women from the dry zone areas pleading for water.
Nodding my head in agreement, I cautioned her to use water sparingly even though there is water on tap all the time. I also pointed out the sheer ignorance about the water crisis on the part of many people including those at car sale centres where vehicles are being washed, with this scarce commodity pouring down the drain and showers being opened at ‘full blast’ as if we don’t have any concern for all those men, women and children who do not have even a precious drop of water to drink.
And, I refer her to a great king’s saying that “not a drop of rain water should be allowed to flow into the sea”. Oh! what has happened to all the grand schemes of rainwater harvesting and what not?
As our Business Times Insight (see story overleaf) suggests, a continuing drought and dry spell over the past six to eight months is among the worst or the worst on record.
The Government is spending billions of rupees as relief to affected populations with 22 of the country’s 25 districts short of drinking water. According to some estimates, the cost of relief measures is estimated at a colossal Rs. 360 billion, while the economic fallout is being assessed. But given the prolonged drought and all weather predictions and calculations going haywire, it’s anybody’s guess as to when the rains will come and its economic implications.
So far three seasons of the 3-month agriculture (Maha-Yala) cycles have been hit and more than a million people affected while the authorities have been forced to import rice.
In addition to the crisis battering the economy and understandably creating a dent in the budget balance, it has hit the private sector as never before. Companies exposed to agriculture like fertilizer, pesticides and sale of consumer goods to farmers have been badly hit which is showing on their balance sheets. The purchasing power of the farming community has been crippled. Some companies are cutting staff and offering voluntary retirement packages as the crisis begins to bite and worsens.
While natural disasters are beyond anyone’s control, planning in anticipation of an impending crisis is what most Governments do. And that isn’t seen here.
The authorities and policymakers must share the blame for not taking pre-emptive steps as experts warned many years ago that the repercussions of climate change and sea level rise would result in unpredictable weather patterns which would in turn affect Sri Lanka’s rain-fed agriculture cycles. That is happening now.
For most people in affected districts, it’s a case of Colombo “having a ball” while others are starving (for water)! Wells have run dry for many months, women walk miles to collect a few buckets of water, tanks are parched dry and instead of fish in swirling water, elephants and buffalo are roaming the tank beds – in search for water.
KAS has been trying to knock some sense into policymakers for a long-term solution to Sri Lanka’s water needs in the light of unpredictable weather and continued dependence on rain-fed agriculture, without any success.
For instance, in a January 2017 column, we wrote: “When should a government be prepared for a drought or a deluge? Is it on the spur of the moment or years ahead? On the other hand, in this day and age where millennials or generation Y are filled with ideas that are transforming the world in the development race, sometimes faster than humans can ever achieve, why isn’t there a reservoir of ideas that is sure to generate dams of knowledge on tackling deluges or drought? Do we have to wait for the last moment or is it that the baby-boomer generation is either unwilling to give young people a chance or hasn’t even thought about it?”
Then again in June 2017, we wrote: “While Sri Lanka desperately needs a more ‘walk the talk’ solution rather than counting the dead and seeking foreign aid when a crisis emerges, it is crucial to prepare a proper rainwater-harvesting strategy. Ironically, while one part of the country is flooded with too much water, other areas – the Northern Province and parts of the north-central region – are starved of water for home use and agriculture, once again proving the urgency for a solution to retain rain water. While it is not the intention of Kussi Amma Sera to knock some sense into politicians and officials (a lot of that is happening anyway), there are many Sri Lankans willing to help the authorities in long-term strategies to tackle floods, landslides and rainwater harvesting. Use them, bring them together and move forward in dealing with these issues.”
Unfortunately no one is listening. Thus while Colombo is mesmerized by the happenings of the ‘Bond’ Commission on how Rs. 160 million was spent on an apartment; billions of rupees frittered away by certain parties; opposition politicians rubbing their hands with glee on chances of toppling the government; students taking to the streets over higher education issues; public inconvenience growing due to the spate of strikes and protests over various issues, and anger growing over the inability to bring crooks of the past to book;…..… it is water that is the ‘talk of the town’ among rural communities.
While the Government steps in with relief through cash grants and other assistance, more is needed (from the unaffected population too) in the form of heart-and-soul (sincerity and devotion) understanding and empathy. Money doesn’t take care of all the misery in life. Caring and understanding do.
Furthermore, one look at the Ministry of Disaster website reveals that systems are not in place even if one part of the government is sincere in such efforts. For example, the home page of the Minister of Disaster Management is a disaster itself. The main news item is a May 2017 update on the floods. Three months later (today), with the worst drought, there is no update on the latest crisis. This is at a time when e-government is being pushed ahead with vigour.
Another item on the web is a February 3, 2004 video interview with Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, former Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Management, who is responding to allegations of human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings. Are man-made disasters also part of the ministry’s mandate? Little wonder then that we’ll never get it right however much the President, PM, Cabinet or state agencies crow about achievements. Go back to the basics!
There is little (or a lot some would say) that the media can do other than highlight issues and bring it to the table for the authorities to take note and take action. Thus for the third time, Kussi Amma Sera pleads with the authorities to come up with a long-term plan to deal with prolonged droughts and flash-floods including aggressive rainwater-harvesting methods and speedier tank renovations (which would increase water collection). If there is a plan, we’d like to hear about it. The pen they say is mightier than the sword. I wonder whether this is a dying phrase.