USAID Pilots Innovative Sanitation Solutions in Sri Lanka
( July 17, 2006 – Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka) – Sri Lanka is acting fast to solve its problems on sanitation and wastewater management. With assistance from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its regional program Environmental Cooperation-Asia (ECO-Asia), the City of Nuwara Eliya is developing a pilot sanitation project that will demonstrate an innovative and effective strategy for providing improved sanitation and address key constraints in the sanitation sector of Sri Lanka.
Water pollution due to untreated domestic sewage is affecting the environment, the economy and people’s health. Diarrheal diseases are the fifth leading cause of hospitalization with admission in the range of 130,000 to 140,000 annually and are the third leading cause of death among infants in Sri Lanka. The sewerage network is limited to a small area serving just a quarter of Colombo. Outside the capital, domestic sewage flows untreated into groundwater, drains, rivers and the sea. This means that less than one percent of the population has access to sanitation that meets sustainability standards. Key constraints in the sanitation sector include lack of understanding of wastewater management options within municipal councils, lack of awareness of pollution impacts within communities, and inadequate financing strategies and recovery frameworks.
The pilot project in Nuwara Eliya will provide improved and sustainable sanitation facilities to about 15,000 of Nuwara Eliya’s 35,000 people. The sanitation facilities will be environmentally sustainable to reduce pollution of the surrounding area and the groundwater. It will be financially sustainable through local taxes and other collective action.
The pilot will build on the findings, capabilities and networks of the USAID-funded Transparency, Accountability and Local Governance (TALG) project, which is a reform and capacity-building initiative focusing on 33 local authorities throughout Sri Lanka. The Asia Foundation is implementing the TALG project and also for ECO-Asia in Sri Lanka.
The pilot project will also benefit from experiences and lessons learned in the Asia region, and will in turn share its own experience during and after implementation of the pilot. In early July 2006, three members of the Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council, including Deputy Mayor Krishnsamy Chandrasegaran, attended the Philippine Sanitation Summit and visited sanitation project sites in Dumaguete, Bayawan and Muntinlupa cities in the Philippines.
In a multi-stakeholder “Consultation Workshop on Sanitation and Wastewater Management” held on July 18-19, 2006 at the Heritage Hotel in Nuwara Eliya, about 40 key city officials and staff, water and sanitation experts, and representatives of local non-government organizations, media and the private sector, discussed priority activities under the pilot project.
Nuwara Eliya Mayor P D Chandana Lal Karunarathne opened the workshop. Speakers included L P D Dayanada, ECO-Asia Country Coordinator in Sri Lanka, who presented the current situation of water pollution in Sri Lanka and introduced the ECO-Asia program; and Dave Robbins, ECO-Asia Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, who gave an overview of water pollution sources and sanitation technologies. Deputy Mayor Chandrasegaran presented the city’s current environmental conditions and the Municipal Council’s environmental initiatives. Council officials who participated in the recent observational tour to the Philippines shared what they learned, to foster regional linkages, which is a major focus of the pilot over the next three years.
Following the workshop, the ECO-Asia staff will work with the Nuwara Eliya Technical Working Group to expand upon the action plan developed during the workshop. Site visits will be conducted to initially determine the technical feasibility of the top priority activities in the action plan. After firming up the action plan, ECO-Asia and the Municipal Council will prepare a workplan detailing ECO-Asia and City inputs for the project.
