IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v24y2010i8p1489-1513.html

Groundwater Resources and Management Challenges in Sri Lanka–an Overview

Author

Listed:
  • Karen Villholth

  • Lorraine Rajasooriyar

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the geophysico-chemical groundwater conditions in Sri Lanka and the associated contemporary management challenges. Groundwater is extensively used in Sri Lanka today, for agriculture, domestic use and industry/tourism. Groundwater access, availability and vulnerability are governed by six major types of aquifer systems of which the most prevalent is the regolith aquifers in the central hard rock areas of the island. Uncontrolled groundwater use and contamination or natural poor quality are leading to access limitations and health concerns. The tsunami severely affected groundwater in the coastal areas and functioned as a wake-up call to further emphasize the importance of groundwater for life-supporting functions. Despite an emerging awareness, groundwater management is in its infancy, with the attitude of groundwater development still not converted into an approach of active management. The role of groundwater in achieving sustainable development and in the development of appropriate water management institutions needs to be highlighted and specifically addressed in policy discussions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Suggested Citation

  • Karen Villholth & Lorraine Rajasooriyar, 2010. "Groundwater Resources and Management Challenges in Sri Lanka–an Overview," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(8), pages 1489-1513, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:24:y:2010:i:8:p:1489-1513
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-009-9510-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-009-9510-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-009-9510-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:iwt:bosers:h040039 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. R. Maria Saleth & Ariel Dinar, 2004. "The Institutional Economics of Water," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3443.
    3. repec:iwt:worppr:h036745 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:iwt:rerpts:h032520 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Madan Jha & Y. Kamii & K. Chikamori, 2009. "Cost-effective Approaches for Sustainable Groundwater Management in Alluvial Aquifer Systems," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(2), pages 219-233, January.
    6. Faisal Hossain & Jason Hill & Amvrossios Bagtzoglou, 2007. "Geostatistically based management of arsenic contaminated ground water in shallow wells of Bangladesh," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(7), pages 1245-1261, July.
    7. Meijer, Karen & Boelee, Eline & Augustijn, Denie & Molen, Irna van der, 2006. "Impacts of concrete lining of irrigation canals on availability of water for domestic use in southern Sri Lanka," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 243-251, June.
    8. Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Margaretha Bakker, 1999. "Irrigation systems as multiple-use commons: Water use in Kirindi Oya, Sri Lanka," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(3), pages 281-293, September.
    9. Jean-Philippe Venot & François Molle, 2008. "Groundwater Depletion in the Jordan Highlands: Can Pricing Policies Regulate Irrigation Water Use?," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1925-1941, December.
    10. repec:wbk:wbpubs:14884 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Kikuchi, Masao & Weligamage, Parakrama & Barker, Randolph & Samad, Madar & Kono, Hiroichi & Somaratne, H.M., 2003. "Agro-well and pump diffusion in the dry zone of Sri Lanka: Past trends, present status and future prospects," IWMI Research Reports 44558, International Water Management Institute.
    12. De Silva, C.S. & Weatherhead, E.K. & Knox, J.W. & Rodriguez-Diaz, J.A., 2007. "Predicting the impacts of climate change--A case study of paddy irrigation water requirements in Sri Lanka," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 19-29, October.
    13. G. Roerink & W. Bastiaanssen & J. Chambouleyron & M. Menenti, 1997. "Relating Crop Water Consumption to Irrigation Water Supply by Remote Sensing," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 11(6), pages 445-465, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Frank A. Ward, 2025. "Addressing Global Water Challenges in 2025: an Integrated Framework for Research, Policy, and Resource Management," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 39(15), pages 7885-7918, December.
    2. K. R. Rushton & C. S. Silva, 2017. "Abstraction Strategies for Irrigation from Large Diameter Wells," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(7), pages 2257-2270, May.
    3. Wasantha Athukorala & Clevo Wilson, 2012. "Groundwater overuse and farm-level technical inefficiency: evidence from Sri Lanka," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 279, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    4. Md Ali & Ismail Abustan & Md Rahman & Abu Haque, 2012. "Sustainability of Groundwater Resources in the North-Eastern Region of Bangladesh," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(3), pages 623-641, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khan, Shahbaz & Hanjra, Munir A., 2009. "Footprints of water and energy inputs in food production - Global perspectives," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 130-140, April.
    2. Ehsan Qasemipour & Farhad Tarahomi & Markus Pahlow & Seyed Saeed Malek Sadati & Ali Abbasi, 2020. "Assessment of Virtual Water Flows in Iran Using a Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Meredith, Elizabeth & Blais, Nicole, 2019. "Quantifying irrigation recharge sources using groundwater modeling," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 9-16.
    4. Tamiru Lemi & Fekadu Hailu, 2019. "Effects of Climate Change Variability on Agricultural Productivity," International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 17(1), pages 14-20, February.
    5. Ding, Yimin & Wang, Weiguang & Song, Ruiming & Shao, Quanxi & Jiao, Xiyun & Xing, Wanqiu, 2017. "Modeling spatial and temporal variability of the impact of climate change on rice irrigation water requirements in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 89-101.
    6. Phogat, V. & Cox, J.W. & Šimůnek, J., 2018. "Identifying the future water and salinity risks to irrigated viticulture in the Murray-Darling Basin, South Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 107-117.
    7. Dinar, Ariel, 2012. "Economy-wide implications of direct and indirect policy interventions in the water sector: lessons from recent work and future research needs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6068, The World Bank.
    8. Pathiraja, Erandathie & Griffith, Garry & Farquharson, Robert & Faggia, Rob, 2019. "The Cost of Climate Change to Agricultural Industries: Coconuts in Sri Lanka," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 10(05), December.
    9. Zamani, Omid & Azadi, Hossein & Mortazavi, Seyed Abolghasem & Balali, Hamid & Moghaddam, Saghi Movahhed & Jurik, Lubos, 2021. "The impact of water-pricing policies on water productivity: Evidence of agriculture sector in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    10. repec:iwt:conppr:h042926 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Closas, Alvar & Imache, A. & Mekki, I., "undated". "Groundwater governance in Tunisia. A Policy White Paper," IWMI Reports 273349, International Water Management Institute.
    12. Giorgos Papadavid & Diofantos Hadjimitsis & Leonidas Toulios & Silas Michaelides, 2013. "A Modified SEBAL Modeling Approach for Estimating Crop Evapotranspiration in Semi-arid Conditions," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(9), pages 3493-3506, July.
    13. Ye, Qing & Yang, Xiaoguang & Dai, Shuwei & Chen, Guangsheng & Li, Yong & Zhang, Caixia, 2015. "Effects of climate change on suitable rice cropping areas, cropping systems and crop water requirements in southern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 35-44.
    14. Mukherji, A. & Das, B. & Majumdar, N. & Nayak, N.C. & Sethi, R.R. & Sharma, B.R., 2009. "Metering of agricultural power supply in West Bengal, India: Who gains and who loses?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5530-5539, December.
    15. repec:iwt:bosers:h042163 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Chen, Dan & Webber, Michael & Chen, Jing & Luo, Zhaohui, 2011. "Emergy evaluation perspectives of an irrigation improvement project proposal in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 2154-2162, September.
    17. Wilson, R. Trevor, 2007. "Perceptions, practices, principles and policies in provision of livestock water in Africa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-2), pages 1-12, May.
    18. Roe, Terry & Dinar, Ariel & Tsur, Yacov & Diao, Xinshen, 2005. "Feedback links between economy-wide and farm-level policies: With application to irrigation water management in Morocco," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 905-928, November.
    19. J. M. P. N. Anuradha & Miho Fujimura & Tsukasa Inaoka & Norio Sakai, 2019. "The Role of Agricultural Land Use Pattern Dynamics on Elephant Habitat Depletion and Human-Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, May.
    20. Bhaduri, Anik & Djanibekov, Nodir, 2015. "Adoption of Water-Efficient Technology: Role of Water Price Flexibility, Tenure Uncerntainty and Production Targets in Uzbekistan," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211336, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Segovia-Cardozo, Daniel Alberto & Rodríguez-Sinobas, Leonor & Zubelzu, Sergio, 2019. "Water use efficiency of corn among the irrigation districts across the Duero river basin (Spain): Estimation of local crop coefficients by satellite images," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 241-251.
    22. Trivedi, Kairav & Singh, O. P., 2008. "Impact of quality and reliability of irrigation on field and farm level water productivity of crops," IWMI Conference Proceedings 245275, International Water Management Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:24:y:2010:i:8:p:1489-1513. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.