Integrated water management and sustainable urbanisation

World Water Day 2015 was celebrated on March 22 on the theme 'Water and Sustainable Development'. This article highlights the importance of integrated urban water management in meeting the demand for water in a fast urbanising Sri Lanka.

By Chatura Rodrigo and Athula Senaratne

Sri Lanka is fast becoming urbanised with low density urban sprawl and ribbon development along the main roads of the country's coastal areas. From 2005 to 2010, the country had an average urban population growth rate of 0.3 per cent, which was among the lowest in Asia.

However, this has gradually started to change with rural to urban migration, with the end of the conflict in the county's North and the East. An increasing trend in urbanisation can be observed in many areas and statistics do not capture this correctly.

The projected increase in urbanisation will create challenges, and ensuring the country's sustainable development will rest upon how effectively these challenges are addressed.

Meeting the demand for water of a growing urban population is one of the major challenges for policy planners of urban development. The country's vision on urbanisation involves development of many physical infrastructures such as buildings, roads, railways and industries, which will attract many people to urban areas.

In this context, it is imperative to look at Sri Lanka's vision on urbanisation and potential drawbacks connected to the increased demand for water.

Urbanisation

Under the National Physical Plan of Sri Lanka (2011-2030), Sri Lanka focuses on five metro regions - Colombo, North-Central, Southern, Eastern and Northern - and nine metro cities - Ampara, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Colombo, Dambulla, Hambantota, Jaffna, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee.

Current state of affairs

These regions are to be connected and integrated into a countrywide system of urban areas. While the use of freshwater in agriculture has decreased, its use in domestic and industry has increased. Currently, 87.37% of freshwater is used for agriculture while 6.22% and 6.42% for domestic and industry usage.

The increase in domestic and industrial water use is prominent in the urban sector compared to rural and estate sectors. Achieving the demand created by urban settlements is reflected in the statistics on access to safe drinking water. Compared to the rural and estate sectors, access to safe drinking water of households is high in the urban sector.

The coverage figures have increased from 96.8% in 2009 to 98.7% by 2012. Among the safe drinking water sources, pipe-borne water is the safest. Approximately 75% and 14% of urban and rural population are served by pipe borne water.

Domestic demand for billed water is around 66% of total demand. Industries demand 9% of the water sold. Sri Lanka has been successful in providing exclusive sanitation facilities to a higher share of the urban households when compared to the households in the rural and estate sectors. The urban sector will require more pipe borne water as population density increases and industries expand.

Demand for safe water has been increasing by 8-10% each year. Most urban water supply schemes do not provide a 24-hourservice. The urban sector faces a number of challenges. While urban water supply is mainly dependent on surface water, the degree of dependency on ground water appears to be rising.

Storage reservoirs have limited capacity, and no expansions have been done in the recent past.

In addition, in the dry season, salt water intrusion occurs. Being an island, urban flood management is vital for Sri Lanka. To account for flood issues, hydrological assessments are needed. However, these assessments are done with models with limited verifications.

Monitoring of the quality of water bodies that supply pipe-borne water is poor. From time to time cases of water pollution are reported and activities by people and industries create negative environmental externalities, which costs private and public resources.

In managing urban water, agencies have different areas of jurisdiction which often overlaps. In the Colombo metro region, most of the water and sanitation infrastructure dates back to the colonial era and a majority of the pipes that carry water and sewage are old and malfunction from time to time, sometimes resulting in leaks. A proper financial mechanism is needed to fund the expansion and the repair of water supply infrastructure in urban areas.

Managing urban water demand calls for innovative action. In this regard the Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) is considered an innovative and optimistic way of managing water demand linked to urbanisation.

IUWM calls for the alignment of urban development and basin management to achieve sustainable economic, social, and environmental goals.

Planning for the water sector has to be integrated with other sectors, such as land use, housing, energy, and transportation.

Chatura Rodrigo is a Research Economist at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) and Athula Senaratne is a Research Fellow and the Head of the IPS Environmental Economic Policy Unit.