Preventable waste of treated water

On my walk this morning – Saturday, March 23 – I saw a female employee of an office near Charles Circus in Kollupitiya flooding the front area of the office and also the road with water. She was holding a hose attached to an outside tap. I made bold to ask whether the water was from a tube well in the premises. No, she replied. She was wantonly wasting treated water. I then asked why she was wasting water while we are in a situation of drought and will surely have severe water cuts in the future. “But we have to keep our area clean.” “It rained last evening and surely you need not use so much water.” I replied. I found her with the hose still pouring water when I returned to the spot. This I surmised was in defiance of my interference.

What is the water supplying govt department doing about conserving water and overseeing it is not being wasted? The police should be included in this surveillance. The Water Board does nothing except issue a press warning that the water supply to Colombo and suburbs is running low. Then they will cut the supply drastically.

Every govt department and office is overstaffed. Figure given for employment in the public sector is 1.8 million of a population of 22m. The .8 may not be correct but the number of people employed by the govt is staggering and thus the hundreds of extra persons in every office; the police and army too. So why cannot persons from the National Water Supply and Drainage Board go around marking houses where water is wasted in the early mornings or late evenings; inform them and cut the water supply to houses that water their gardens and premises, wash their cars daily and water the road too. Just one or two cases, advertised, will get people getting their senses back and becoming more civic conscious.

I for one am so careful in use of water now. There are thousands like me – civic conscious. Why should we who are careful with use of treated water sent, have to suffer due to the selfish, stupid, wanton wastefulness of others?

Disturbed woman