The Nuwarawewa tank.
The water levels of the 13 major tanks in the Anuradhapura district have been rapidly decreasing as a result of the prevailing drought.
The National Water Supply Drainage Board’s (NWSDB) provincial assistant general manager Sudath Ratnayake referring to the drinking water situation of the Nuwarawewa, Thuruwila and Tisawewa tanks which supply treated drinking water to Anuradhapura city and its suburbs told the Daily News that they were still able to manage to issue water without major interruptions.
“We need to release 18,000, 21,000 and 5,000 cubic metres of drinking water from Nuwarawewa, Thuruwila and Tissawewa respectively for daily consumption. The consumers including government departments and institutions are not thrifty in the daily usage of water which is highly unsatisfactory during a drought. We are prepared to face the challenge of water scarcity with the least inconvenience to the consumers in this context,” Ratnayake said.
He appealed to the consumers coming under the Nuwarawewa, Thuruwila and Tisawewa water supply projects to not use purified drinking water for gardening, vehicle washing, etc and use alternative water sources for such requirements in view of the poor water security at present.
In the meantime, responding to a request by NWSDB (North Central), the Mahaweli Authority’s Water Management Secretariat has released around 400 cubic metres of water to the Tissawewa tank.
Nimal Wijesinghe-Anuradhapura Additional District Group Corr.