Water scarcity in urban water supply system: a case of Thirukkovil, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The water scarcity becoming challengeable phenomenon for water security of people across global. Environmental changes, growth of population, socio-economic development have led to escalate the higher water scarcity crosswise the countries. People athwart Sri Lanka are facing critical drought conditions and water scarcity disputes, in particular, people living in Thirukkovil region faces huge difficulties in getting safe drinking water especially during drought season. This study sets out to identify the influencing factors headed for water scarcity and to propose alternative strategies to minimize this issues faced by Urban Water Supply System (UWSS) in the study area. The primary data collection tools; field visit observation and Key Informant Interviews (KII) by using unstructured open ended questions were conducted. And secondary statistical data including time series data from respective departments also were administered. The study established that many challenges faced by UWS scheme in producing and supplying drinking water services, due to the extreme scarcity of water sources in Thrukkovil. It found that there is a great demand for drinking water as the population has been increased and water requirement has also been measured in a huge quantities. It is observed that the climate changes and draught season influenced as key factors of unavailability of raw water in the Sagamam reservoir, which is the basic water source in the study region. However, the alternative arrangement need to be taken and implemented by the government and other donor agencies, which could be the permanent solution to provide uninterrupted, pressurized and safe drinking water to meet the requirement of people in Thirukkovil UWS scheme significantly. Thus, this study suggested the Catastrophe theory to assess water security and adaptation strategy in the context of environmental changes including hefty draught in the study area. Preparing coping strategies with existing global and national challenges would substantially contribute to reduce the vulnerabilities of many urban sectors across the nations.