Vasu promises Water Act

… claims people won’t be adversely affected

Water Supply and Drainage Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that steps would be taken to draft a new bill on water as there was a need for legislation on matters such as protection of water resources, their organisation, ownership and liability.

Addressing the media at the Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage on Monday (31), the Minister said that the new Act would be brought so that legal action could be taken if it was violated and assured that it would not cause any inconvenience to the people.

Minister Nanayakkara said that water was a limited resource and a right of the people and that the right of all to access water would be guaranteed by a Water Act, preventing a limited number of people from benefiting from it.

Minister said that by the end of the next five years, the Water Act would be brought under a programme to provide clean drinking water to all.

The Minister said that water was being supplied without any generation and no research has been done on the subject. He pointed out that rainwater should be re-grounded without letting it go to the sea and then the surface water level could be maintained.

He said that five new water schemes would be implemented and those schemes would bring solutions to the new water needs that arose on a daily basis.

The new water supply schemes are Pattiyawila, Mannar, Katana, Deduru Oya and Matale, which would provide water connections to over 300,000 families, Nanayakkara said.