New bill on water commercialisation soon
A new bill on water is to be brought before Parliament with the aim of protecting water resources and ensuring its proper management, its organisation, ownership and liability, a cabinet paper relating to this legislation revealed.
The legislation is aimed at regulating water supply market and the restructuring of state institutions connected to the management and control of water resources in the island nation.
This is the first time that a Government is going to introduce water market concept and policy for the better use and conserve water resources passing its benefits to the people, a senior official of the Water Supply Ministry disclosed. The new Act will enable the government authorities to take legal action if it violates the law assuring that it will not cause any inconvenience to the people, he said.
He pointed out that water is a limited resource and a right of the people and that the right of all to access water would be guaranteed by a Water Act, preventing a limited number of people from benefiting from it.
According to the cabinet paper 88 per cent of water supply of the state authority is being used for agriculture and industry, six per cent of pipe borne water used by households and another six per cent consumed by energy and industrial sectors paying a monthly bill for their usage.
One of the hidden objectives of the new Act is to introduce a levy for water usage by the agriculture sector which consists mainly of farmers, several non-governmental organisation representatives told the Business Times.
According to the cabinet proposal three new institutions namely National Water Resource Council, National Water Resource Secretariat and Water Resource Appeal Board will be established.
The President is the appointing authority of officials to these institutions. The Irrigation Department, Mahaweli Authority and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board will be restructured in accordance with the present and future needs.
Thereafter these three state institutions will be amalgamated to establish a single authority for water management, supply and conservation, the cabinet paper indicated.
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