Oil-water problem amidst election ...

Oil-water problem amidst election ...

causing distress to Colombo residents

Case filed against Biyagama company for oil contamination

What the Water Supply Board announced to

consumers in the afternoon of last General Elections Day as an emergency announcement was that the water supply to a number of areas in Colombo would be abruptly limited and that a problem of oil getting mixed with water has contributed to the problem.

As such, by evening that day several areas such as Colombo, Dehiwala-Galkissa, Kotte, Kolonnawa, and Maharagama experienced a slow flow of water while towards night-time it was possible to observe from the odour emanating that oil had got mixed with that water. Since it was an election day, most people had been indoors and the householders said that they had sensed the problem acutely. As that the water had a smell akin to kerosene oil it was not drinkable and during this day bottled water and cans had been sold so rapidly that in urban supermarkets and boutiques they were no more available.

Because of this oil-water issue, this situation had created a terrible inconvenience to patients at Kalubowila Hospital including several other hospitals. It was after all this hulabaloo took place that the Ambatale Water Supply Board made an announcement that they had to limit the supply for a period of about 10 hours to Colombo and surrounding areas. They informed that this problem had occured as a result of some black-coloured oil which had got mixed with waters of Kelani River and because it was not possible to clear up things at Ambatale itself, some pumps had to be temporarily removed from there.

It was later discovered that the said black-coloured oil had leaked out as a result of a waste-matter pump which had burst in a private establishment in Biyagama area and the oil had flowed to the Kelani River. As  it was this private institution who is responsible for allowing this poisonous oil to mix with the water, the Environmental Authority and the Water Supply and Drainage Board has decided to take legal action against them. The authorities concerned said that the loss incurred when calculating the expenditure in relation to the profit that was lost for not being able to provide water to consumers in and around Colombo from 6.30 a.m. upto 4 in the evening the Board had to face a loss and when also taking into account the loss sustained for the methodology adopted in removing the filters of Ambatale pump and used for cleaning it had to be nevertheless accounted for.

In the meantime, it was reported that  authorities of the said establishment and authorities of other private organisations situated in close proximity to Kelani River were summoned to the Environmental Authority on Friday. It was also reported that the Environmental Authority had taken measures to issue advise on the prevention of releasing waste-matter to Kelani River.