Introduction of community water supply projects, implemented and managed by the community with an initial support from governments or international organizations has been considered as a useful strategy to provide access to safe drinking water to rural communities. Sri Lanka has also adopted this strategy through the Community Water Supply & Sanitation Project. Since there were concerns about the sustainability of numerous water schemes implemented throughout the country, a research was carried out in 20 community managed water schemes in eight Divisional Secretariat divisions in Kandy district to assess the sustainability of community based rural water supply projects using a methodology adopted by the UNDP and World Bank in six other countries. Participatory research methodology tools were used for the assessment based on 5 sub-indicators, such as physical condition, operation and maintenance, consumer satisfaction, financial management and willingness-to-sustain the system. The results show that the community water supply projects to provide water to rural areas of Kandy district has been a success since 14 out of 20 schemes were found to be sustainable indicating that the strategies followed during the project implementation have succeeded. However, the study has also highlighted areas which require further attention to ensure that these systems would continue to provide the expected services and improve the functioning of other potentially sustainable schemes in the longrun. A capacity building program along with an institutional arrangement to provide the support services by the authorities, at least in the short term, is considered vital to help improve the Community Based Organizations and to make them capable and mature entities.

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Sri Lanka, with more than 2500 years of hydraulic civilization, has constructed highly complex systems of irrigation in the Dry Zone. Kings formulated the rules in consultation with high officials in the Kings' court. The King was the source of the laws. This ancient administrative system gradually changed after colonization and attention focused more on written rules and regulations of the government legislations than those based on customs, norms, and traditions of Sri Lanka. There are more than 50 legislations enacted in relation to the development and management of water resources along with the establishment of a large number of institutions. Despite all these, water resources are being degraded at an alarming rate. A preliminary study showed that there were adequate legal mechanisms and institutions to prevent water resources degradation. This study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of regulations and associated institutional arrangements to prevent stream encroachments. Two villages between Peradeniya and Gampola along the Mahaweli river were selected for the study. Questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions among institutional officers and interviews were conducted in these villages. The results showed that the existing regulatory mechanisms to protect stream reservation covered all aspects including eviction of encroachers. However, there are serious deficiencies in implementation of such regulations such as the lack of coordination among institutions, procedural lapses, political interference, and less enthusiasm of state employees to implement rules and regulations. The encroachers tend to occupy the reservations due to landlessness, poverty, and the social cohesion among their own communities.

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Performance assessment of irrigation systems plays a vital role to self-evaluate them so that interventions could be made to improve the functioning of the systems. This study was conducted to assess water delivery and supply performances and the agricultural productivity in three major irrigation systems, namely, Batalagoda, Hakwatuna Oya and Kimbulwana Oya in the upper Deduru Oya river basin and comparatively evaluate them based on the estimated values of selected performance indicators. Secondary data were collected from these three systems with respect to rainfall, yield, cultivation performances, water supply and delivery for the period of 2012/2013 Maha and 2013 Yala seasons. The results showed that the relative yield of more than 1.0 was achieved only during Maha season at Batalagoda and Hakwatuna Oya irrigation systems. None of the systems were able to reach the indicative paddy yield of 5 Mt/ha during the Yala season. The overall comparison of performance indicators during both seasons have shown that the performance of Hakwatuna Oya irrigation system was relatively better compared to Batalagoda irrigation system followed by Kimbulwana Oya irrigation system. The water scarcity during Yala season at Batalagoda and Hakwatuna Oya irrigation systems has resulted lower crop productivity. Irrespective of high relative water supply, the actual yield is much less than the indicative yield during both seasons at Kimbulwana Oya irrigation system. The reasons for poor water and crop productivity during both seasons at Kimbulwana Oya irrigation system needs to be explored in detail so that interventions could be made to improve the system performance.

Scarcity of water is the main problem of agriculture and other livelihoods of Hakwatuna Oya watershed in Deduru Oya basin which leads to conflicts among different water users and uses. With this background, a study was conducted to find water conflicts and factors leading to such conflicts among different water users and uses in Hakwatuna Oya watershed. Various field research methodologies including field surveys, focus group discussions, and interviews with farmers, officials and community leaders were used to gather information. In addition, documentary evidence, such as minutes of the monthly Project Management Committee meetings during 2012 Maha to 2014 Yala seasons were perused to study the conflicts within the irrigation command. Conflicts between head-end and tail-end farmers, farmers and officers, farmers of irrigation command area and in the catchment, farmers of irrigation command area and fisherman and farmers of irrigation command and outside of the command area were found during the study. Conflicts arise mainly due to water scarcity, and number of conflicts is comparatively higher during Yala (dry) season. Illegal water tapping is the most common reason for conflicts among farmers. Poor attitudes of farmers, weakness of existing land and water rights, non-implementation of existing law primarily due to political interference, encroachments and inadequate institutional arrangement for water resource management are found to be contributing factors to water conflicts. The socioeconomic and cultural factors, such as gender and religion also play roles in existing water conflicts.

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Assessment of irrigation water requirement (IWR) is a prerequisite for planning and management of an irrigation scheme, particularly for a water short scheme. In this context, this study was conducted to estimate the current and future IWR under A2 (very heterogeneous world) and B2 (world in which emphasis is on local solutions to economic, social, and environmental sustainability) scenarios of IPCC emission for Hakwatuna Oya irrigation scheme using SDSM and CROPWAT models. It was found that the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) during Maha and Yala seasons at present are 407 mm and 506 mm, respectively. Water requirement of 3½ months paddy in Maha season is 1,282 mm whereas it is 1,381 mm in Yala season. The crop water requirement, which depends primarily on temperature, remains relatively stable over the simulation period up to 2070. When compared to the mean annual rainfall during 1972 to 2001, the rainfall is expected to increase by 32% and 27% from 2041 to 2070 under A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively. As a result, the total water availability from rainfall and irrigation water issues from the Hakwatuna Oya reservoir in Maha season would increase in the future with an overall water deficit to reduce from 28% to 18% and from 28% to 20% under A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively. For Yala season, this reduction is found to be 30% to 24% and 30% to 26% under A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively. The benefits from climate change could be further enhanced by adjusting the planting time to coincide with months of high rainfall.