Lack of water policy is hurting everyone, says expert
Water mismanagement is only intensifying the destruction caused by the ongoing drought, say experts. Water is not an unlimited resource, and if we do not use it carefully, we will be bringing a serious crisis upon us, says Dr. Dasarath Jayasuriya.
“Lack of policy hurts everyone,” the Australia-based Sri Lankan scientist told the Sunday Times. “Water is like money. If we spend it excessively, we cause problems. But unlike money, there are no banks to give a loan in case of a water deficit. So the country has to manage its resources well, and in an equitable way when you have enough of it. This includes putting something aside for a bad day.”
Dr. Jayasuriya is the deputy director for Climate and Water at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. He is also one of the six members of the Expert Group set up by the World Meteorology Organisation to advise the global community on cli- mate, food and water.
“We should first carry out an audit of available national water resources. You then study the data against the demand for water to determine long-term sustainable yield. Once we balance demand and supply, we can work out how to best manage water resources, using a risk-management framework,” Dr. Jayasuriya said. “The demand for water increases with population. Meanwhile, climate variability leads to extreme weather patterns. The future will be bleak unless the government acts fast.”
Dr. Jayasuriya says droughts are difficult to predict with certainty, but early warnings are possible using meteorological and hydrological data in monsoon prediction.
Sri Lanka is desperately in need of a water policy, says Herath Manthrithilake, head of the Sri Lanka Development Initiative, International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
The country’s irrigation system is largely based on water collected in the wet zone. The trouble starts when this water is diverted to other areas when there is not enough rainfall in the wet zone, Mr. Manthrithilake said.
“Ideally, water should be allocated to different sectors, such as agriculture and power generation. But we do not have such allocation arrangements. We have no policy on how much water should go to each sector,” he said.
The need for a water policy for Sri Lanka was recognised decades ago. Three attempts to introduce such a policy were stymied by politicians who said the policy was an attempt to “sell water.”
Dr. Jayasuriya said the problem with the three previous water policy attempts was that the government was “pandering to international agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. “These agencies looked at developed sophisticated countries like Australia and tried to shoe-horn a policy that was out of sync with the Asian small- scale subsistence farmers.”