Environmentalists slam govt for privatising drinking water

(Oct. 31, 2012) The Sri Lankan government wants to privatise drinking water, according to an environmental group called “People's Movement for Right to Water” The group includes scholars and water management experts. The authorities have rejected the group's claim but activists point out that the government is planning to amend the 1964 Water Resource Board Act introducing a tax, which they say would be a gross violation of human rights of the citizens of Sri Lanka.
At a press conference In Colombo, the group demanded that any regulatory mechanism should be set up democratically. Recently, the Water Resources Board (WRB) proposed to impose fees ranging from 7,500 to 15,000 rupees (US$ 50 to 75) to dig traditional or tube wells to obtain water for drinking and agriculture. For the WRB, the measure is necessary to protect the resource. However, environmentalists believe the measure is the first step towards privatising water management. For them, the proposal is a similar to the Water Resource Management Policy for Commodification and Privatization of Drinking Water, which was approved in March 2000. The issue goes back to 1995 when the World Bank advised Sri Lanka on how to raise extra revenue. "One such form was to levy a price for water," said Thilak Kariyawasam, an environmentalist with the Sri Lanka Nature Group.