Sri Lanka is set to launch a pilot rainwater harvesting project targeting at least 100 state institutions in the Colombo District, Minister of Construction and Water Supply Dr. Susil Ranasinghe announced on Wednesday.
The initiative will focus on capturing rainwater for non-drinking uses — garden landscaping and vehicle washing — to reduce pressure on the municipal supply, the Minister said.
Dr. Ranasinghe highlighted concerns over the sustainability of water supply in the coming years. He noted that within the National Water Supply and Drainage Board’s Western Region alone there are approximately 1.3 million consumers and questioned whether the Board would have the capacity to treat and supply sufficient volumes of water to meet growing demand a decade from now, or whether adequate water resources would remain in the Kelani River to support that need.
The Minister pointed out that Colombo receives rainfall throughout most of the year, aside from brief dry periods, and stressed the importance of capturing and utilising that rainwater across households, government institutions and other environments for practical uses. As part of the initial phase, the government intends to install rainwater harvesting systems equipped with advanced engineering technology at the 100 selected state institutions in Colombo.
Dr. Ranasinghe encouraged households to adopt similar practices by installing rainwater collection systems such as underground or surface tanks to store and use rainwater for domestic purposes including garden maintenance and vehicle washing.
The announcement comes during a week of severe rainfall that has triggered a Met Department Red Warning and pushed 33 reservoirs to spilling capacity — underscoring both the abundance of rainfall the harvesting initiative aims to capture and the strain on Colombo’s existing water infrastructure during extreme weather.
