Seminar held on Industrial water pollution and its prevention

Industrial water pollution, its causes and prevention is a timely issue that has arisen due to the recent incident which took place at Rathupaswala in Gampaha District. The people of the area have encountered serious issues due to the increased acidity of ground water in the area. The people attribute to the effluents released by a factory. Although the tests carried out so far by government authorities confirm the increased acidity of water, the cause for this has not yet been decided scientifically.

The problem of water contamination is somewhat a neglected issue in Sri Lanka where industrial water pollution is among the cause for this. Some serious cases in recent history are among the worst examples for this.

With this backdrop, Green Movement of Sri Lanka organised a seminar on industrial water pollution and prevention on 1st October 2013 at Colombo. A Sinhala language report titled ‘Public Water Right, Industrial Water Pollution and It Prevention’ (පොදු ජල අයිතිය, කාර්මික ජල දූෂණය හා එය පාලනය කිරීම) was also launched at this event.




Providing an introduction to the programme, Mr. Suranjan Kodituwakku presented a general overview of environmental issues in Sri Lanka and the experiences of public campaigns related to it. He emphasized the need to think beyond Rathupaswala and also the mitigation action.


Mr. Suranjan Kodituwakku and Mr. Palith Senaratha

Mr. Sarath Nukulasuriya, Chairman of the Gokula Environmental Centre made a presentation on the importance of water to human consumption as well as other living beings. After pointing out some of the industrial water pollution related issues in the past, he stressed the need of public engagement to protect their water rights.

Mr. Palitha Senaratna, Attorney-at-law briefly pointed out the history of the water pollution issue at Rathupaswala and the recent incidents. For instance, a case that was filed in 1997 was as an example for such an action.


Mr. Sarath Nukulasuriya and Mr. Samantha Kumarasena

Mr. Chaviru Sirisena, Attorney-at-law, made a presentation on the laws and regulations related to curbing environmental pollution in Sri Lanka, with special attention of preventing industrial water pollution. He also mentioned that the National Environmental Act is supreme on all environmental related matters. He further pointed out the importance of considering environmental rights as human rights.

Mr. Samantha Kumarasena, the Deputy Director of National Cleaner Protection Centre made a presentation on the tools and methods that could be used to minimize waste in factories. He described the concept and applications of cleaner production, which aims at zero waste products and widely used at present.

The event was organised by the Natural Resources Conservation and Management Unit of the Green Movement of Sri Lanka. A number of media personal and environmental activists participated in this event.

Section of the participants




The Report: PDF file of the report Public Water Right, Industrial Water Pollution and Its Prevention (“පොදු ජල අයිතිය, කාර්මික ජල දූෂණය හා එය පාලනය කිරීම”) will be uploaded soon on www.gmsl.lk.

You can request for a PDF file of the report by sending an email to bloggmsl@gmail.com with "Report request" as the subject.