Power cuts add to Water Board's worries, but officials assure continued supply
Mounting power cuts have begun to worry experts about the ability of the national utility to continue pumping water to households.
"We need electricity to pump water from the source, to the treatment plants, to storage and then to the households," said a top National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) official. The Board makes use of gravity wherever possible but engineers have been compelled to use their generators when the outages are for prolonged periods.
Every day, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board uses around 2.1 percent of the Ceylon Electricity Board's daily production.
Dedicated Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) lines prioritise the NWSDB's functions as emergency infrastructure and regional support centres have been given guidance on troubleshooting.
At present four treatment plants have dedicated power lines – Ambathale, Biyagama, Labugama, and Kalatuweva. About 30 plants depend on generators when there is power interruption.
“We have agreements with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation for continued supply of fuel,” said Chrishan Fernando, Additional General Manager for the Western Province. While a group of about 10,000 people had experienced a brief water cut last week the Water Board was managing to provide water even to troubling elevated areas for now.
“As of now our worries are only with about 1% of our total customers living in elevated areas.” Areas where the pressure won’t bring the water up will receive water in bowsers the AGM assured. “There is a high demand, not a shortage of water,” he noted.
"When we are in a crisis we have to manage," an official, who did not wish to be identified said adding that other contingencies were being explored to meet any breakdown.
During the dry season, consumption goes up by 20% which makes it even harder to meet demand during peak times. Officials were however holding out hope for rains in April to fill the reservoirs again.
“We have to make sure we conserve water,” noted Water Board's Deputy General Manager Piyal Pathmanatha. The lack of pressure to pump water was their main concern at the moment but they were managing this by diverting water accordingly. He also dispelled rumours that the Water Board was out of chemicals used for purification by noting that new shipments had come in, thanks to the Indian Line of Credit.
“The usable capacity levels of the reservoirs are quite low for April," noted energy expert Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe. Water levels at Castlereigh Reservoir and Moussakele Reservoir, the two primary reservoirs upstream of the Kelani river, had depleted to 10.5% and 26.9% respectively as at March 21. Dr. Ralapanawe noted that ideally the reservoirs would have enough water till June as the 'monsoon' does not start in May as people often assume. "What we have are one or two storm events and these are susceptible to many variables," he noted, adding that a planner would do well to only expect rain in June. He also dispelled the theory held by many government officials that the current climate condition was a 'drought'.
"These are the normal climatic conditions of this season," he said.
Under normal conditions Sri Lanka utilises 100% of its thermal power - the three coal plants and all the oil plants. When the December 3 blackout last year took down Norochcholai the shift to hydropower was substantial. The coal power plants were not all activated until February 1 this year.
"This resulted in a loss of 525 gigawatt hours that were compensated for by hydropower and oil. The CEB's total reservoir capacity stands at 1,200 gigawatts. Some 43% of the reservoir capacity was therefore used in the gap. When the fuel crisis began in January as a result of the forex crisis, issues exacerbated," he said.
Under normal conditions Sri Lanka utilises 100% of its thermal power - the three coal plants and all the oil plants. When the December 3 blackout last year took down Norochcholai the shift to hydropower was substantial. The coal power plants were not all activated until February 1 this year.