It's a large-scale environmental crisis

Hemantha Withanage, founder and executive director of the Centre for Environmental Justice, said the Uma Oya project should be stopped because the cost of the damage far outweighed its benefits.

“Due to the crisis, a huge amount of public funds has been spent on providing water and compensations to the affected people," he said.

Mr. Withanage said he believed the project work had been stopped to study how to continue the tunneling process.

Commenting on the leakage, he said it happened because the aquifer between the rock and lime stone caves had been breached during tunneling in underground areas with gaps.

“Diverting Uma Oya's water to the arid dry zone of Hambantota is not a feasible task because the water can be provided only for three months," he said describing the project as a costly exercise with little benefits, just as So how can we wash our clothes? We go in search of waterfalls in other areas to take a bath," Shalika Maduwanthi, a Bandarawela resident said.

Some households buy water from private bowsers, but many villagers cannot the Mattala airport and the Hambantota port.Mr Withanage said the project was started on a disputed Environmental Impact Assessment report and no geologist was consulted.

The project had already destroyed water sources in Kanndaketiya, posing an existential threat to the sloth bear population in the area. This is a large- scale environmental crisis with soil damage, water pollution and massive deforestation, he said. afford to buy water.

Meanwhile, those in the tourism industry – mostly in the Ella area -- say they would be severely affected by the water crisis, with the drought situation also worsening.