By Ifham Nizam
Environment Minister, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa recently hinted at an upcoming tariff hike on water, warning that it would become an expensive commodity in the near future due to waste.
Yapa said that waste of water in Sri Lanka was going from bad to worse.
Water management played a key role in bringing about economic development of a country.
Speaking at a ceremony, last week at the Central Environment Authority (CEA), the minister said that water waste recorded in the country was very high mainly due to the subsidized rates at which it was provided and it had become a national problem.
The statistics revealed that water was mostly wasted in the urban areas.
People needed to realize the importance of water, its careful usage and management. His ministry was on an awareness campaign on the value of water, Yapa said
He believed that protecting the environment and natural resources through awareness would be more effective than by imposing laws and regulations.
According to available data Sri Lanka provided safe drinking water to more than 94 per cent of urban households and less than 50 per cent of its rural population.
The country has more than 2,400 irrigation canals and some 3,500 deep water tanks and over 4,500 kilometres of rivers. The country also has natural wetlands, but not all water is safe to drink.
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