Sri Lanka’s National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) says 150 main industries located close to the upper part of the Kelani River from Ambatale Water Purification Plant will be examined to check whether the effluents from them are polluting the water in the river.
General Manager of the NWSDB Ranjith Balasuriya says sudden inspections will be conducted in those factories from next week. The Central Environment Authority and relevant local government bodies and the Divisional Secretaries will extend their support to the NWSDB to conduct these investigations.
Industries located within a perimeter of 4 kilometers on either side of the river will be subjected to this process.
The NWSDB says it has undergone a loss of 132 million rupees due to oil leak to the river from the Coca Cola factory at Biyagama. The contamination resulted in curtailing water supply to Colombo, Kotte and Dehiwala-Mt Lavinia areas on two occasions. It also damaged the Ambatale water pumping plant.
The Coca-Cola Company however, has undertaken to reimburse the expenses incurred due to the mishap and the money will be utilized to clean the Water filters of the Ambatale Plant, the NWSDB said. (CP)
