Urban Water Scarcity and Water Governance: A Study of the Bandarawela Municipal Council Area, Sri Lanka

Urban water scarcity is an increasingly pressing challenge in secondary towns across the developing world, where physical water endowments are often adequate, but governance, infrastructure, and equity failures translate into chronic household-level insecurity. This study examines the nature, causes, and consequences of urban water scarcity in the Bandarawela Municipal Council (MC) area, a highland town of 36,651 residents in Sri Lanka's Uva Province. A mixed-methods design combined a structured household questionnaire survey of 68 respondents, selected through simple random sampling across all 14 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GNDs), with secondary water-consumption data obtained from the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) for 2025, Bandarawela Municipal Council, and qualitative field consultations. The results reveal severe spatial inequity in water distribution: per-capita daily consumption ranged from 3.6 litres in Wewathenna to 221.2 litres in Thanthiriya, and 61.8 percent of households received fewer than 12 hours of piped water per week. Seventy-five percent of households reported experiencing water shortages, predominantly during the February-April dry season, with consequences including disrupted household activities (57.4 percent), increased expenditure (41.2 percent), water-related illness (32.4 percent), and psychological stress (22.1 percent). The Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project was identified by 36.8 percent of respondents as a direct trigger of well and spring depletion. The findings indicate that scarcity in Bandarawela is predominantly institutional and economic rather than hydrological in origin, driven by fragmented governance, deteriorating infrastructure, agrochemical pollution, and the near-total absence of rainwater harvesting despite annual rainfall of approximately 1,497 mm. The study recommends coordinated investment in water infrastructure rehabilitation, the establishment of an Integrated Urban Water Governance Committee, and the promotion of rainwater harvesting and groundwater protection to support more sustainable and effective water management in the area.

water scarcity; urban water governance; water supply equity; sustainable water management; Bandarawela; Sri Lanka

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