Towards An Informed Water Vision
Dr Ranil Senanayake
The three basic substances of our biosphere, Air, Water and Soil share the characteristic that they are all dynamic and vary in quality and quantity from place to place on this planet. However there is what is generally recognized as the ‘optimal range’ of values for each one of these substances, to render the environment hospitable to life. While my comments today, are focussed on water, it should be kept in mind that they apply equally to the other two.
Water is a critical element of all living things and it is the medium through which much of life is expressed, all animals and plants including humans are made mostly of water. Water is an essential material for the maintenance of global ecosystems; it is required in the right quality and quantity for each purpose that it is used for. Water enters a landscape as rain or fog and moves across a landscape responding to gravity and heat. It flows both above and below the soil level in every terrestrial ecosystem increasing its load of suspended and dissolved solids, organic and inorganic compounds as it flows. The ability to clean groundwater is demonstrated by active soils, wetlands and by evapotranspiration, is a critical consideration not only for human sustainability but also for the sustainability of our life support systems. As such, a visioning process that seeks to address all aspects of water and harmonizes this vision with the existing international agreements is critical.
In the examination of the role, function and value of water, an obligatory needs of water management to address the goals of agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), The Commission on Sustainable Development (CBD), The Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), becomes obvious. Thus one statement that might provide an intergrative vision is; “The requirement for developing optimally functioning watersheds at the local, regional and global levels is a fundamental development goal”.
From the local level on, management must be focussed on the watershed, it can begin as a mini watershed of a brook and the scale or treatment area widened into the watershed of a stream or of a river basin.
A basic need for all humans is the ability to have access to clean water and air. For this country the question clean air is still largely an urban problem, however, the question of clean water is much more ubiquitous and ominous.
Sri Lanka is rapidly moving towards a situation where the traditional knowledge of basic health care and the stability of climate buffers are becoming dangerously eroded. The surface waters of the country are demonstrating a rapid decline in quality.
The estimated groundwater potential of the country is 780,000-hectare meters per annum. (Natural Resources of Sri Lanka, 1991). Rainfall is the primary source of groundwater. Its contribution to the groundwater recharge is estimated to be 7-30% (Anon 2000), or 200 – 600 mm/year. The majority of Sri Lankans rely on surface water or shallow aquifers for their supply of drinking water. However the quality of this resource is being rapidly eroded. The water sources from the very tops of the mountains are being contaminated with large volumes of toxins and leached nutrients. This is the consequence of a socially irresponsible vision of agriculture that accepts no responsibility beyond production goals. One consequence of this view and practice of agriculture is that toxic chemicals are often applied at rates exceeding eighty times the manufacturers recommended dose. While the slow poisoning of the population through its food intake is an item that needs urgent address, the poisoning of the headwaters of our rivers bespeaks of an incredible lethargy in the monitoring of water quality by the administration.
The high loads of nutrient dumped into the river systems by wasteful applications of fertilizer, a consequence of a poorly informed agricultural sector, are rendering rivers eutrophic, full of algae and silt. The problem is compounded by the high loads of garbage and sewage dumped into the river systems by riverside towns, communities and industries that contribute towards creating algal and bacterial blooms of unprecedented magnitude. A season of low flow and drought can now render many of these waters toxic. Further, the contamination of the shallow aquifer by industrial chemicals, currently tapped by a majority of domestic wells, has now become a common phenomenon in most industrial areas. The complaints from the public over polluted wells are yet to be attended to. This trend if allowed to continue will impact not only the present population but will also compromise the health and security of future generations of Sri Lankans.
It is in this context that we should examine and comment on the draft framework for a National Water Resources Policy (De Alwis 2011). While it is a good start, more public participation and comment is obviously a good thing . It suggests a framework on a base of 18 principles :
