36 river conservation projects to be implemented

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Ministry of Environment states that 36 projects have been submitted to conserve the country's river system.

Secretary to the Ministry Dr. Anil Jasinghe stated that these projects have been submitted for 25 rivers in 18 districts.

The amount allocated for this is 120 million rupees.

Environment Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe stated that tributaries will also be developed under the 'Surakimu Ganga Program'.

The “Conserve the Rivers” project is one of the flagship programmes designed to achieve the goal of sustainable environmental management included in the ten-fold concept in the National Policy Framework, “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour”.

The specific objective of the project is to conserve water resources by ensuring water quality, which is a key component of environmental conservation. Providing clean drinking water to the people through conserving all rivers, protection of the environment and biodiversity, and promotion of tourism are among the other objectives of the project.

The “Conserve the Rivers” programme is designed to cover 103 rivers in Sri Lanka. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) Regional Offices conducted a preliminary survey using a computer application over a period of two weeks to inspect 10,410 locations associated with these 103 rivers that need attention. Riverbank erosion, illegal occupation of lands and illegal constructions, sand mining, discharge of domestic effluent, sewage and industrial wastes into rivers and discharge of wastewater sludge are a few of these major issues.

The Ministry of Environment and the Central Environmental Authority will implement the “Conserve the Rives” programme in joint coordination.