Groundwater Resources and Management Challenges in Sri Lanka–an Overview

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the geophysico-chemical groundwater conditions in Sri Lanka and the associated contemporary management challenges. Groundwater is extensively used in Sri Lanka today, for agriculture, domestic use and industry/tourism. Groundwater access, availability and vulnerability are governed by six major types of aquifer systems of which the most prevalent is the regolith aquifers in the central hard rock areas of the island. Uncontrolled groundwater use and contamination or natural poor quality are leading to access limitations and health concerns. The tsunami severely affected groundwater in the coastal areas and functioned as a wake-up call to further emphasize the importance of groundwater for life-supporting functions. Despite an emerging awareness, groundwater management is in its infancy, with the attitude of groundwater development still not converted into an approach of active management. The role of groundwater in achieving sustainable development and in the development of appropriate water management institutions needs to be highlighted and specifically addressed in policy discussions.

Needs and Trends of Rain Water Harvesting in Sri Lanka

“…As far as ground water of Sri Lanka is concerned, there are six types of aquifers such as shallow unconfined karstic aquifers, deep confined sandstone and Miocene limestone aquifers, shallow quaternary unconfined coastal sand aquifers, alluvial aquifers of variable depth, shallow regolith aquifers of the hard rock region, Confined or semi confined lateritic aquifers (Villholth and Rajasooriyar, 2009). From the above mentioned aquifers ground water have been extracted in different type of wells and total estimated potential of Ground water of Sri Lanka is around 7800million cubic meter per year(Case study : Sri Lanka Sri Lanka National Water Development Report, 2006).…”

Exploring water indices and associated parameters: a case study approach

“…While groundwater usage information is available for Bangladesh, no such information for Sri Lanka is available (Table 4). Villholth & Rajasooriyar (2010) approximate that 60% of Sri Lanka's total population is currently dependent on groundwater for domestic use.…”

“…Because Sri Lanka is an island nation, it has no transborder water resources. Water quality issues include agricultural pollution, fecal contamination, and saltwater intrusion, notably in the coastal areas (Villholth & Rajasooriyar, 2010).…”

F-Hydra Index for Evaluating Groundwater Vulnerability in Data Scarce Regions

“…With the dwindling amount of available surface water due to population growth, agriculture, urbanization and industrialization, a higher percentage of the populace has resorted to the use of groundwater as supplement and has become the major source of water for most activities. Although most people have thought of groundwater as being clean due its location, climate change and industrialization among other factors (Villholth, 2010, Audretsch & Thurik, 2000 have increasingly made them susceptible to pollution especially in developing countries (Anornu et al, 2012). Several studies have outlined the health as well as environmental risks that are associated with this kind of pollution (Lee et al, 2010;Törnqvist et al, 2011;Karim 2000;Emmanuel et al, 2009).…”