8 January 2013: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided an update on the project “Water-scarce towns in Sri Lanka have benefited from a “Secondary Towns and Rural Community-Based Water Supply and Sanitation,” which ran from 2003-2011.

The project, financed by ADB, provided loans totaling $137.9 million to communities in Sri Lanka, specifically in the districts of Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Hambantota, Polonnaruwa, and Trincomalee. According to Rita O’ Sullivan, ADB Country Director in Sri Lanka, the project aimed to “contribute to poverty reduction efforts and promote human development by improving access to safe water and sanitation for poor populations, decreasing waterborne diseases, and reducing the amount of resources spent in these activities.”

The 2010 statistics from the World Bank indicated that 9% of Sri Lanka’s 20.8 million people lacked access to safe drinking water, and 8% lacked access to improved sanitation facilities. According to ADB, as a result of the project, 832,500 people across Sri Lanka have been provided with access to safe piped water and 171,500 people with access to safe sanitation.

In the town of Batticaloa, for example, loans enabled the construction of a 55-km water transmission system; a water treatment plant with a capacity of 40,000 cubic meters per day; seven water towers; and 1,680 latrines. Elsewhere, the loans have funded water treatment plants, which purify water supplies by treating freshwater to make it safe for drinking, and wastewater to make it safe for secondary uses. ADB notes that increasing potable water supplies to individuals can also spur larger economic investments, citing the example of an individual who opened a hotel offering a 24-hour water supply. [ADB Press Release] [Project Website]