Needs and Trends of Rain Water Harvesting in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Man has fought to sustain oneself even in deserts for thousands of years, and succeeded on it by the skilful management of vital and scarce resource; water. Obviously water is the cardinal resource, prevailing to ensure the existence of all living beings and proposing a part of larger ecosystem (UN-Water, 2015). Even more, availability of sufficient water is an index of development of a country (Weerarathna et al., 2009). Therefore the sustainability of water should be ensured in order to corroborate the existence of the earth. The availability of water was predictable before the interference of human in the natural water cycle. But after the human intrusions such as deforestation, wetland drainage and other means of pollution, the balanced and favourable sequence started to collapse and it has led the world towards water related issues (Charles, 2000). The ultimate reaction will be more dangerous and it is estimated that one third of the world population is going to face hardships because of water scarcity.