Now no water for hundreds of thousands - EDITORIAL

hat a shame, in a country that boasts of a unique irrigation system that supplied water for the entire dry zone in the past while blowing its trumpet on the current mega development projects and vows to be the wonder of Asia; millions of people are craving for a drop of water to drink.

Almost every day the electronic media brings us visuals of people who brave the sun walking miles in search of water and collect water from small pits dug in parched lakes. We are told that people in this pearl of the Indian Ocean have to wait in queues not for hours, but for days to fetch a pot of water distributed from bowsers and that the people are forced to buy water in the “black market.” We read the other day a story of a mother digging a thirty-foot deep old well to find a drop of water to quench the thirst of her children, saying “I don’t mind death.”

Minister Maithripala Sirisena, who represents the drought-hit Polonnaruwa District said on Sunday at a meeting in Polonnaruwa that people in some areas were being provided water from bowsers once a week whereas it should be done on an hourly basis. He also said he saw a line of pots and cans kept along the road for about a kilometre waiting for the water bowsers to come and accused the officials for presenting false reports on the situation.

It is reported that the current drought has hit almost all districts in the dry zone, at least partially, destroying staple crops in tens of thousands of acres,thereby creating fears of future scarcity of food and seeds for the seasons to come.

Needless to say that mega infrastructure development projects are essential for a country, but if a majority of people in the Hambantota District where there is a new harbour and an airport have to walk miles to find a little water to drink; we have definitely erred in setting our priorities right. Also the people of Polonnaruwa and Ampara Districts where highways have been built, but the water streams have run dry would question as to what the development is all about. The people may remember Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister, soon after the recent Southern and Western Provincial Council elections at which the ruling UPFA faced setbacks, saying that development does not mean only highways and other mega projects, only to draw flak from the top, as reported in the media.

In the meantime politics in the country has stooped to such a low level that some politicians in the Uva Province where elections for the provincial council are to be held soon are reportedly distributing water in bowsers that carry banners with their names. And some politicians are heard accusing the Opposition for blaming the government for the water scarcity. They argue that the Government cannot be blamed for the drought which is a natural phenomenon.

True, the present government is not responsible for the drought, but it has an unavoidable responsibility to foresee the present situation as the drought is not a new phenomenon to Sri Lanka. For the past 66 years since Independence, 17 years since the SLFP-led government came to power and eight years since the incumbent regime took the reins of the country has been experiencing the droughts so many times without at least contemplating any permanent strategy to encounter it.

The UPFA government launched a programme to renovate 10,000 lakes in the dry zone in 2004 under JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake who was the Agriculture Minister then. However, soon after the JVP broke ranks with the UPFA and left the Government, the authorities abandoned the programme. Had they continued with it irrespective of the JVP leaving the Government, the country would have been able by now to manage the situation at least to some extent. Instead the politicians in the Government are talking now with contempt of the programme that had been approved by the Cabinet of their own government.

It is interesting to note that reports emanating from the hill country speak about heavy showers with many reservoirs spilling over while one part of the country languishes in thirst. This ironic situation had been properly grasped by the Left parties since the 1930s when veteran Communist Leader, the late Dr. S.A. Wikremasinghe had put forward a programme even before the Independence to divert the overflowing water in the rivers running through the wet zone during the South-Western monsoon (or in the months between May and December) to the Dry Zone where droughts are prevalent during the same period. Also this concept had been included in one of the famous “five classes” of the JVP, but it too was still viewed with contempt due to political differences. The Mahaweli Projects were meant for this purpose, but it is a river which has a smaller catchment area in the wet zone when compared with the Kelani and Kalu Gangas.

Hence it is high time for the authorities to ponder upon a mega programme to divert the overflowing water in the wet zone during the south western monsoon to the dry zone.