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| Sunday, 18 July 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Putting a price tag on water by Shanika Sriyananda Water, the life blood of a nation is the most precious gift from mother
nature. It is also the topic of a hot debate in the country, following
attempts by the international donor agencies to introduce a Sri Lanka is blessed with an abundance of water resources and the conservation of water resources is not a new concept, as it has been a common practice among the villagers for ages. King Parakramabahu the Greats (1153-1186 AD) statement "Not a single drop of water received from rain should be allowed to escape into the sea without being utilised for the benefit of human kind" is the most significant evidence that Sri Lankans have conserved their resources with dignity. Conservation However, due to mis-management of water resources only 75 per cent of the people have access to safe water, while some living in major towns don't have safe water due to pollution, rainfall changes, lack of storage facilities and lack of replenishment of ground water. Putting a 'price tag' on water will deprive the poor of their rights to access water, claim eco activists, labelling the policy a crime. The activists call for well organised water management to minimise the wastage of the country's water resources. Hemantha Witanage, Executive Director, Centre for Environmental Justice said that the country urgently needed a well researched policy on water to manage the water resources. Strongly opposed to the policy, he warned it would pave the way to privatisation of water. " From 1996 up to 2000 April, this policy was a top secret and it was not transparent", he alleged. Witanage said that the majority of eco-groups were doubtful about the real purpose of the new water management policy due to several reasons. " We are doubtful about some components such as ownership, entitlement, full cost recovery and pricing, the rights of the bulk water users, the control of river basin management committees in the policy, which certainly make water a tradable commodity", he pointed out claiming that under full cost recovery there was no way for the poor to have safe drinking water. He also pointed out that with the introduction of water entitlements, now called 'water permits' the permit holder can sell, transfer and change his permit which means he can sell it for a higher price. "Ultimately it will go to businessmen", he said adding that the agriculture water entitlement can also be transferred to Industrial water. Well water "Under the original policy all the garden wells will also have to be registered and an initial payment of Rs 500 will have to be paid. What we propose is the setting up a river basin committee to issue permit and when the holder does not want it the permit should be returned to the committee, which will issue the permit free of charge to another needy", he pointed out. Witanage was of the opinion that there should not be provisions in the policy to price irrigation water, but that huge profit making companies, a majority of who are using river water free of charge for their manufacturing processes, should be charged instead. " The policy states paddy is a water-consuming crop and farmers have to covert to other crops to save water. So such donor agencies who promote this concept should not be consulted in formulating this new Policy ", he stressed. "We urged the government to study the existing policy and to include important provisions such as water management into it. But the government should not follow the ADB water Policy ", he added. Laws Jagath Gunawardena, Lawyer and eco-activist, who is also strongly opposed to the implementation of a policy said that there were enough laws to deal with water management. "We have Irrigation Ordinance, State Lands Ordinance, the Mahaweli Authority Act and Water Resources Act to deal with water resources management", he pointed out. According to him, environmentalists fear that under the proposed water policy water will become a 'resource' which will have a potential commercial value. "This problem has to be reviewed with the General Agreement in Trade on Services (GATS) of the World Tared Organisation (WTO) which may pave the way for privatisation of water supply both on drinking water and irrigation services", he warned. He said that the best option was not to implement the new policy as the country has always been methodical in water management from ancient times. " We have one of the best water management practices on the world and it was spelled out in the definition of the International Court of Justice in the 'Danube River Case' between Slovakia and Hungery", Gunawardena said adding that he does not understand " the so called 'scientific' water management. K.S.R. de Silva, Director General Water Secretariat, who was involved in formulating the policy from inception told the Sunday Observer that there was no Water Resources Management Policy but a National Water Resources Policy (NWP), which look into the proper management of water resources at river basins. " This is an integrated management of water resources and under NWP no water resource would be privatised", he confirmed. Misunderstanding "There is a misunderstanding that under this policy, the country's water resources would be privatised but there are no provisions under the NWP to do so", he said, adding that government was in the process of appointing an Inter-Ministerial Committee to study the current policy and to see whether there were any provisions that encourage privatising the water resources. The Minister of Agriculture has already appointed a committee to look into this matter. De Silva assured that the government would not give the green light to the proposed policy if there were any provisions in it recommending the privatisation of water resources. While appreciating the Agriculture Minister's move not to implement the proposed water policy, Lawyers for Human Rights and Development (LHRD), which carried out a strong campaign against the efforts made by the previous governments to sell the country's water resources say that they are still sceptical about the assurance to abolish this policy as some unsolved problems are still looming. " Because of these we strongly feel that even the UPFA government has not abandoned the policy of privatisation of water resources and its services", said Mr. Kalyananda Tiranagama, Executive Director LHRD. Rights to sell "Under the provisions of this Bill some companies will be given the rights to sell water to consumers at higher rates enabling them to earn huge profits. The poor will be deprived of their rights to water under this Bill", he pointed out. "The main reason for our opposition is the contradictory paragraphs in the UPFA Election Manifestos - 'Rata Perata' and ' Our policies and Action Plan' under the heading of water reservoirs, tanks and irrigation. Both the Manifestos state that "Process designed to sell the water resources under the name of 'water management' and the institutions established under that process will be abolished. But no action has been taken so far to keep these promises. The government should take immediate steps to abolish the Interim National Water Resources Authority, National Water Resources Council and the Water Resources Secretariat", he added. Thiranagama is also sceptical about the continuation of the construction of the Kelani River Conservation Barrage and the low flow weirs at Ambatale across the Kelani River under Asian Development Bank (ADB) funds, as the MOU clearly states that the ADB will not release any funds for this construction, prior to the establishment of the National Water Resources Authority. " Can the government assure the people that it would not obtain US $ 19.6 million loan from the ADB for the Water Resources Management Project, abolish the Water Resource Council and would not establish the National Water Resources Authority as proposed in the MOU?" he queried. Thiranagama also said that LHRD was of the strong belief that plans were being made for the sale of water resources in the guise of development of river basins. " The outcome of the similar fact finding mission of the ADB visited the country in 2000 for the Water Resources Management Project (WRMP) was the signing of the MOU for the WRMP and the establishment of the Interim National Water Resources Authority. So we have suspicions about the recent three member ADB project review Mission for WRMP", he said. However, the LHRD has sent a letter to the Minister of Agriculture requesting to clear these doubts. Former ADB country representative John Cooney, who has been transferred to ADB Head Quarters early this month told the Sunday Observer that the ADB did not have any intention to privatise the country's water resources. On the contrary, he said the aim was to introduce a proper water management policy to conserver water resources. "No hidden agenda in this proposed water policy to privatise water sector ", he said."The main intention of the policy is to ensure that every one in this country has access to water", he pointed out adding that there was a 'big misunderstanding' about the policy. However, according to Agriculture Ministry officials plans are under way to formulate a National Water Policy based on a scientific study. A committee comprising Deputy Minister Bimal Ratnayake, Parliamentarian S.K. Subasinghe, Agriculture Minister's Consultant Dr. Wasantha Bandara, A.T.S. Kulathilaka and Udula Bandara has already been appointed to finalise arrangements for formulating this Policy. |
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new 'Water
Policy', which will, many allege put a heavy price tag on this invaluable
substance. Human rights activists, environmentalists and the public have
been agitating continuously to halt the implementation of the 'Policy'
which they allege is being promoted under the guise of 'water
conservation'. The agitators also dismiss the UNFP government's assurance
that the country's water resources will not be sold, as mere lip service.
