Water scarcity in Aligambai village, Alayadivembu divisional secretariat, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The scarcity of drinking water creates major impacts on the rural community, in particular. The people living in Aligambai have been facing numerous problems in getting a safe drinking water supply, even for their daily drinking purpose. This paper sets out to identify the contributing factors toward water scarcity and how to cope with it by increasing water productivity as an integrated approach in the study area. This study is a combination of research methods; quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. It is built on the premise of the cultural theory, which can be used to study water scarcity issues in rural water points. Mainly, it tries to understand the gap between the performance of the rural water supply sector and the SDG Goal 6: ‘water & sanitation for all’ through networking with pluralist institutions and mechanisms. Research methods, such as interviews with key informants, direct observations, and Focus Group discussions, have been employed for the study. The secondary data were collected from the Aligambai Resource Profile, records from the GND/DS office, and the statistical records from the National Water Supply & Drainage Board. This study found that water scarcity has affected the community in terms of life and livelihood activities in Aligambai. Therefore, it tries to bring out potential solutions to coping with water scarcity by suggesting measures for water productivity at all levels through an integrated approach in the study area.