Strategies adopted for sustained water supply and sanitation through community participation in Sri Lanka

With the dawn of the new millennium, the Sri Lankan Government has set the goal of providing access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation to all its 20 million population by year 2025. The ensuing Water and Sanitation Sector reform program aims to achieve these targets through direct local authority and community participation in the design, construction, operation and ownership of schemes using a range of new sector concepts. The Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project I (1993-1998), which was implemented on a pilot basis, was rated in 2000 by the World Bank as its best managed and implemented rural water supply and sanitation project worldwide. This project has formed the cornerstone upon which the structure of subsequent projects were developed using the lessons learnt and benefits reaped. As a part of the current 2nd Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project, which commenced in 2003, an optimum project cycle has been formulated incorporating five purpose-driven Action Plans, details of which are described in this paper.