The Maltese Islands have limited freshwater resources and depend heavily on desalination. Therefore there is an evident need to mobilise non conventional Water Resources (NCWR) in order to secure water availability and facilitate sustainable development.
WRCC/ECOWAS: 8th session of the Technical Committee of Experts
Water quality is a major issue in Sri Lanka. Pollution and waste dumping contaminate water supplies, leading to serious health impacts for nearby water users. In one of the country’s most serious cases of water pollution, 300,000 people in Gampula were at risk when an epidemic of viral hepatitis broke out; several people died. But GWP Sri Lanka has achieved some results. (In photo: GWP Sri Lanka Chair Kusum Athukorala)
Water quality is a major issue in Sri Lanka. Pollution and waste dumping contaminate water supplies, leading to serious health impacts for nearby water users. In one of the country’s most serious cases of water pollution, 300,000 people in Gampula were at risk when an epidemic of viral hepatitis broke out; several people died. But GWP Sri Lanka has achieved some results. (In photo: GWP Sri Lanka Chair Kusum Athukorala)
Currently, water resources management in irrigation and drought, flood management are effecting greatly by climate change. Learning and disseminating of related information systematically will help facilitate the adjustment of water resources management of responsible agencies in time and responsive to the changing situation. Evidences from climate change on watershed ecosystem are obvious and diversified, for example, irrigated water insufficiency, disasters from floods, landslide, and drought. Data and information about these are available with consulting firms or line agencies. To be more effective in dealing with these problems, local stakeholders and the RBC should have sufficient knowledge to fully and equally participate in the process. Thus the RBC and local stakeholders’ capacity will be strengthened in monitoring of the IWRM, especially in the critical river basins.
The cost of managing water resources to reach social, economic and environmental goals is increasing due to increased demands from urbanisation, population growth and climatic threats – to name but some of the future challenges.