Social impact on drought mitigation by rain water harvesting in Nikaweratiya division

Abstract

Disaster is a situation resulting from natural phenomenon or man made that produces stress, personal injury, physical damage, and economic disruption of great magnitude. Effect of the disaster has increased nationally and globally. Different types of disasters often almost annually damage the Sri Lankan society. Within. the disasters, drought is the worst calamity which damages the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Rain water harvesting is a new drought mitigation methodology which is implemented by various organizations. The effectiveness of the rain water harvesting project depends on the external and internal factors of the society. Among these factors, social impact takes place as the first priority in Sri Lankan society than the other factors due to societal patterns of the country. In this study an attempt was made to identify the social impact on drought mitigation by rain water harvesting in Nikaweratiya Divisional Secretariat area in Kurunegala district.

The key special unit of identifying the social impact was Rain water harvested by the householders of Nikaweratiya Divisional Secretariat. Social impact was considered under the categories of people’s perception, attitude, belief and behavior. The impact of these social functions was determined by when the rain water was used, adjustment to rain water harvesting system, water security through rain water and gender based rain water utility. Majority of rain water harvesting house holders did not accept rain water as a main source of drinking water in the dry season. This was due to the people’s perception, attitude, belief and behavior regarding the rain water. Majority of house holders consider rain water as poor of quality for drinking purpose. Therefore, people usé rain water for other purposes such as toilet use, gardening, washing utensil and personal washing.

To mitigate these negative social impacts, programs such as awareness program, training on operation and maintenance, education on health and hygiene, follow up machinery and improvement on community contribution have to be implemented.