These
are just the commemorations in the past three consecutive days.
I will
concentrate on the importance and appreciation of Water.
Being
in the Tropics, we in Sri Lanka, with many thunderstorms, even one a few minutes
ago where I am, and the monsoon rains means we have some form of rain at least once
every week here in the Colombo District, and I have a source of water that does
not dry up in the Dry zone in Polonnaruwa District.
Despite
all this we must be more careful of conserving water. I do not believe that Sri
Lanka as a country still appreciates the value of water. Recently when there was
a possibility of charging for water usage, even having one’s own well, the source
of water for most people in Sri Lanka, people went berserk, and it was a politically
charged hot potato.
It
is very important that we do in fact appreciate the value of water and how we can
try and keep in the ground and in the water table, rather than the practice at present
for it to flow within a day or two of a rain shower straight back into the sea!!
With
increasing construction, cutting down of forests, and in our neighborhood, the rubber
estates being turned into residential building blocks mean that there is NO ability
for the ground to absorb excess water from rains. That was how it was sucked into
the soil, into the water table. Now it just flows into the lowest point, and then
by way of canals and waterways finds itself to the nearest river, and then into
the sea with a huge top soil run off to beat, as there is very little foliage covering
left to absorb the water into the ground.
I am
convinced that very little is done in the study of the conservation of water, and
also looking into replenishing ground water reservoirs as well as raising the water
table. If more effort is put here we will delay our day of reckoning.
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