Integrated water resources management and sound information system - Sri Lankan experience

Integrated water resources management is the core of the management strategy of national water resources, for which the concept of multi sectoral planning of river basin has to be introduced. In order to meet this objective one of the basic and most important requirement is a sound information base of the resources and analytical tools to support decision making process. In Sri Lanka, quite similar to our neighboring countries in the region, water resources planning, development and management decisions were made spanning for several decades on the basis of achieving self sufficiency in the staple food, rice. However during recent times, while developing lands for agriculture emphasis was also laid on hydro power development. Once the infrastructure for the water resources development is established, it is also important to realize the sustainability of these assets due to ageing and deterioration. Therefore there is an urgent necessity for the formulation of a national plan to ensure the safety of dams by establishing a mechanism for periodic monitoring and taking timely action for necessary repairs.