COLOMBO — As part of his morning routine, Nalin Kaluwitharana from “Ranjan Wijerathnapura,” a low-income settlement in the heart of Colombo, waters his home garden before setting off to work. Like many others in his neighborhood, he works as a three-wheeler driver. “We obtain pipe-borne water provided by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB). In the wake of drought conditions, NWSDB has requested people to use water sparingly. But we need water for our daily needs and have no alternatives but to rely on tap water,” he told Mongabay. Despite increasing utility tariffs, he continues to water the plants to keep them green and his surroundings alive. Kaluwitharana and a majority of houses in this settlement do not have water storage facilities and are dependent on the state utility to obtain water directly from the water line. The routine  water cuts and maintenance work disrupt the regular water supply, inconveniencing them. Linda Arulanantham is from the same neighborhood. “Immediately after a water cut, the water turns muddy. We use a water filter to make sure that the water we drink is clean,” she said. But every household doesn’t have a water filter system, and water safety in urban low-income settlements is often neglected. Community water supply schemes In Sri Lanka, community water supply schemes were established around the 1990s to provide safe drinking water to rural communities. Ananda Vijitha Kumara Mapa, director general at the Department of National Community Water Supply (DNCWS) told Mongabay that community water supply…This article was originally published on Mongabay

WASGAMUWA, Sri Lanka – Prior to the 1940s and the Green Revolution, Sri Lankan paddy farmers cultivated traditional rice, locally known as purana haal. These rice cultivars were resilient and known to possess various nutritional and medicinal properties yet were soon replaced by new improved rice varieties to obtain better quality and bigger yields. Karu Herath, an heirloom paddy farmer in the village of Dunuwila, bordering the Wasgamuwa National Park located within the Matale and Polonnaruwa districts, has cultivated heirloom paddy varieties for the past 27 years. He told Mongabay that fewer than 30 varieties remain out of the estimated 2,500 varieties of heirloom rice that once existed, a claim supported by rice researchers. According to researchers, many of these rice varieties are long-aged, tall and low-yielding. Therefore, traditional farmers would only cultivate them during one harvesting cycle, known as the Maha season, which runs from September through March. With the introduction of new, improved rice varieties and fertilizers after the 1940s, Sri Lanka lost much of its Indigenous rice varieties and traditional knowledge of Indigenous farming practices. Image courtesy of Pethum Bandara. Herath follows this practice and cultivates only during the monsoon season. “During the Yala season [May to August], when it’s dry, we let the soil recover and grow heirloom cereals and vegetables such as kurakkan [finger millet] and mung [mung bean],” he said. “This draws different nutrients and requires less water than rice. This was the traditional land use system, which was changed by British colonialists who…This article was originally published on Mongabay

COLOMBO — Even though Sri Lankan authorities are preparing to face an impending El Niño phenomenon, Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage Suwandarathne feels that the country may not be impacted as forecasted. A second generation farmer from Thalangama in the Colombo District, Suwandarathne knows about weather and has been leading an agricultural revolution by promoting the cultivation of heirloom varieties of rice. According to him, it is normal to experience a dry spell between July and September as forecasted. This period coincides with the Yala season, one of two paddy harvesting seasons in Sri Lanka. “By August, the dry period begins, and we need a dry season to obtain the harvest,” he told Mongabay. “We then conduct culturally significant events praying for rains. This is the cycle during the Yala season. Then again from December to March, there’s a drought season, which coincides with the Maha season. Long dry spells occur every four to seven years. But now, we have changed these harvesting cycles,” he said. The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) monthly global seasonal climate update indicates an 80% probability of a rapid development into a strong El Niño event between July and September 2026. WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo said that it would “intensify chances of drought and heavy rainfall and the risk of heatwaves on land and marine heatwaves in many regions of the world.” “When going by initial predictions, the time period for developing a very strong El Niño was between November 2026 and January 2027,” Ajith Wijemannage, head of the Meteorology…This article was originally published on Mongabay

DEDURU OYA, Sri Lanka – On April 16, eight members of Priyantha Kumara’s family including his wife, son, brother, father-in-law, and four other relatives were swept away by strong currents in the Deduru Oya, a river in Sri Lanka’s North Western province. Sri Lanka Police reported more than 30 drowning deaths between April 12 and 21 this year, underscoring the risks posed by flooding rivers. Sri Lanka Police media spokesperson Udaya Kumara Wootler told Mongabay that 376 individuals have died due to drowning in rivers last year while 595 fatalities were reported in 2024. Buddhika Sampath, spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Navy told Mongabay that the Navy Diving Unit recovered 148 bodies of people between May 2022 and May 2023. While the police are yet to disclose official statistics of deaths due to drowning from January to May 2026, the number of reported incidents show over 50 fatalities. Kumara is a resident of Gopallawa in the northwestern district of Kurunegala. His son had requested that they all go for a bath in the river. The group had been bathing at a popular spot named Kuriyagas Mankada when they met the tragedy. “My son was only 13 years old, and he was a bright student,” Kumara told Mongabay. “My brother was about to hold a housewarming ceremony at his newly built house. But all these dreams were shattered within seconds. My father used to take us to this same spot to bathe when we were young. But the river has changed…This article was originally published on Mongabay