India hands over water harvesting project to Sri Lanka

India has handed over a water harvesting project here to Sri Lanka with a hope that it would popularise the process for recharging underground aquifers in the country.

Officials of the Indian High Commission here handed over the project on Artificial Recharge of Ground Water Resources at the Export Processing Zone in Katunyake to Sri Lankan authorities at a ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by Commercial Counsellor in the Indian High Commission Manish and Chairman of the Water Resources Board Munesinghe among others.

The project was initiated by the government of India following discussions during the 14th SAARC Summit on water security within the region, the Indian High Commission said in a statement.

The project was implemented by the Lankan government’s Water Resources Board with the active cooperation of Indian experts. The total cost of the project (SLR 11.2 million) was funded by India.

It involved construction of artificial recharge structures, such as one recharge trench, one recharge pit, two ring wells, eleven recharge tube wells and ten Piezometers, the statement said.

The main objective of the project is to display the effectiveness of rain water harvesting in supplementing and improving the sustainability of water resources at local level.

This is through storing rain water in structures on ground or for artificially recharging ground water resources.

Besides, the project will help in popularising rain water harvesting for direct use or recharging underground aquifers, it said. – (PTI)