Groundwater Resources and Management Challenges in Sri Lanka–an Overview

Karen Villholth () and Lorraine Rajasooriyar ()

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2010, vol. 24, issue 8, 1489-1513

Abstract: This paper gives an overview of the geophysico-chemical groundwater conditions in Sri Lanka and the associated contemporary management challenges. Groundwater is extensively used in Sri Lanka today, for agriculture, domestic use and industry/tourism. Groundwater access, availability and vulnerability are governed by six major types of aquifer systems of which the most prevalent is the regolith aquifers in the central hard rock areas of the island. Uncontrolled groundwater use and contamination or natural poor quality are leading to access limitations and health concerns. The tsunami severely affected groundwater in the coastal areas and functioned as a wake-up call to further emphasize the importance of groundwater for life-supporting functions. Despite an emerging awareness, groundwater management is in its infancy, with the attitude of groundwater development still not converted into an approach of active management. The role of groundwater in achieving sustainable development and in the development of appropriate water management institutions needs to be highlighted and specifically addressed in policy discussions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Keywords: Groundwater resources; Sri Lanka; Groundwater management; Tsunami; Review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-009-9510-6 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:24:y:2010:i:8:p:1489-1513

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-009-9510-6

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().