Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-01-02

Sustainable Management of Ground Water

- Due to various development activities taking place along with the increase of the population, the utilization of ground water in Sri Lanka has increased rapidly. Apart from domestic consumption, ground water is largely used for agriculture, bottling of water, tourist hotels, vehicle service stations and various industries etc. Since the over utilization of ground water causes diverse environmental issues, the owners of the tube well drilling machines have been registered under the Water Resources Board and taken measures to regulate the extraction of ground water. The procedure to be followed by the tube well drilling operators has been stipulated by the Regulations published in the Gazette Extraordinary Notification No.2010/23 dated 2017‑03‑16.

As such, the proposal made by Hon. Vijith Vijayamuni Zoysa, the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management, to increase the fine imposed under the provisions of the Water Resources Board Act, on tube well drilling operators who act in contravention of the Regulations and to establish a standard among the tube well drilling operators by levying an annual registration fee for tube well drilling machines, was approved by the Cabinet.