Find Water and Sanitation expertise in Sri Lanka

The National Water Supply and Drainage Board operates over 300 water supply schemes, serving approximately 40% of the population with pipe borne water supply and a further 12% with hand pump wells. Provincial councils and local authorities are also major stakeholders in Sri Lanka’s water supply sector. Many water supply projects are also foreign-funded. There are also several companies that bottle and distribute mineral water for the domestic market.

The Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage is responsible for policies and programmes pertaining to the supply of water in Sri Lanka. The percentage of schools with improved water sources is around 80–85%. Natural disasters since 2005 have affected this number dramatically. Therefore the World Bank (IDA) and the government of Sri Lanka funded the Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project (CWSSP) to improve the WSS of the country. In 2014 the construction of 3,497 water schemes provided drinking water to more than 3 million citizens, and water supply and sanitation (WSS) to 805 schools. As a result, 160,000 toilets and 16,800 rainwater-harvesting tanks were constructed.