Sunday, March 24, 2013

World Tuberculosis Day 24th March, Earth Hour 23rd March, World Water Day 22nd March and it goes on….



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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