JAFFNA PENINSULA DRINKING WATER


ing, plastic and glass recycling, and slaughter house and solid waste landfilling.


In addition, only half of Jaffna City enjoys garbage collec-


tion and disposal service, so much garbage is burned and/or thrown into the mentioned canals and ponds, a further addition to the pollution of the aquifer. All the canals and ponds are polluted with garbage, construction debris, and trash vegeta- tion; and at least ten ponds have been filled in as designated garbage dumps.


Moreover, because the local tropical soils are low-fertility


coarse regosols and calcareous latosols, they drain rapidly with infiltration rates exceeding 42 centimeters per hour. To make them commercially productive for paddy and vegetable crops, the soils must be over-irrigated, heavily fertilized and treated with pesticide. Thus, agricultural chemicals exten- sively pollute the Aquifer. Greenhouse agriculture is not an option because of its cost and unsuitability for rice and field vegetables.


Figure 2 - Wall built of Jaffna Limestone, by D. Seevili as posted on Trip Advisor


Jaffna City or Town, also referred to as the Jaffna Municipal


Council (JMC) extends 6 km east to west along the coast runs and 4 to 8.5 km inland. The Jaffna Lagoon and the Indian Ocean form the JMC’s southwest and south boundaries, respectively (Figure 4). The highest elevation is 10 meters above sea level. There are no rivers or perennially flowing gullies within the city.


The management of the aquifer is much criticized due to its anthropogenic pollution and natural seawater contamination.


As there is no piped sewage collection in Jaffna City, raw domestic and industrial sewage from buried, near-surface sep- tic tanks easily leaks directly to the underlying aquifer, from where it flows into canals. The 32.6 km of main drains; 30.4 km of submain drains; 50 km of other drains, 43 stormwater detention ponds, and 8 sea-outlets also recharge the aquifer with untreated sewage (Figure 5).


However, there are “honey wagons” (Figure 6) which collect


some wastewater for anaerobic treatment and land applica- tion at the Jaffna City solid waste management facility at Kallundai, 6.5 kilometers northwest of the Central Business District The facility includes wastewater treatment, compost-


Tidal fluctuations in sea level, especially during the dry


seasons when groundwater levels are low, and climate-change induced rising sea levels, naturally contaminate the aquifer. The solution to seawater intrusion would be a network of fresh groundwater recharge wells along the coast, which would be expensive and is likely not feasible.


Finally, as for all limestone aquifers, the groundwater is naturally hard from dissolved calcium carbonate which pro- motes adverse gastrointestinal health effects.


In summary, groundwater typically contains agricultural chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, solid waste and its leachate, and septage and raw sewage. All the water wells contain hard water, nitrates, and coliform bacteria. More than 50 percent of the wells produce high salinity water. Unfortunately, this pollution and contamination is irrevers- ible.


The objective of my work was to lead a local team of con-


sultants in preparing a stormwater drainage master- and procurement plan to be implemented for up to four million dollars (Figure 7). Because of the high extent of urbanization, flat coastal topography, and inadequately cascading gravity- driven canal, pond and sea-outlet network, the recommended engineering option of a network of pump lift-stations and large-diameter pipelines to the sea would require investment of at least $500 million.


Figure 3 - My Tamil maid Kamsda views our Jaffna House water well and pump house. www.aipg.org Oct.Nov.Dec 2020 • TPG 43


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