Sri Lankan Struggle for keeping water public

Hemantha Withanage[1]

Water is a right! Water is a ‘common resources’. No one seems to confront this. However, ‘right to water’ means that everybody gets access to ‘free access to water’ is something that people engage in a debate. This debate is endless. However, how to manage water is a question that everybody is trying to answer.

Meanwhile, International Financial institutions powered by the water corporations are moving to engage making water a commodity. Manila water is run by a private corporation. Jakarta is same. However, despite the Asian Development Bank’s and World Bank’s strong pressure to adopt ‘privatisation friendly water policy’, Sri Lankan water is still remaining in the public hand. This is so far because of the civil society struggle for keeping water public.

FULL STORY