Women's indigenous knowledge of water management in Sri Lanka

This article describes how village women of the Dry Zone in Sri Lanka traditionally obtained, purified, and conserved water. The women obtained their water from small irrigation tanks. They established three specific points around the tank for each type of water use: drinking; washing; and livestock watering. Ideally, the drinking water point had to be: close to the village (250-500 metres); deep (deep water is usually clear); accessible to sunshine (sun kills germs); distant from other points of water use; surrounded by aquatic plants (which prevent the influx of organic matter); and surrounded by Terminalia arjuna (kumbuk) trees (which they believed had a desalinizing and cooling effect). Dug wells, rivers and seasonal streams provided supplementary sources of water. The inside walls of the wells were protected with logs from kumbuk trees. Burnt kumbuk wood and burnt coconut shells were placed between the walls and the logs, and at the bottom of the dug wells to purify and reduce the salinity of infiltrating springwater. Well wastewater was diverted to vegetable gardens. A filtering cloth was used to purify drinking water which was fetched 2-3 times a day in clay pots. The insides of the pots were often rubbed with seeds of Stryclinos potatorum (ingini) to help clear the water. To give a pleasant taste and smell, women treated the clay pots with the smoke of burning paddy husk. Water meant for children and the sick, and saline well water, was boiled. As saline water was known to cause kidney disorders, women used a wide range of herbs to prevent this. Water for non-drinking purposes was also stored in clay pots in the kitchen. This water was often recycled: water for dish washing was used twice, water from domestic washing was used to irrigate vegetable gardens, and water used to wash rice was given to the cows. The present large-scale irrigation projects in the Dry Zone have often neglected local women: their indigenous knowledge is overlooked, they are not consulted, and have no opportunity to participate at the decision-making level. Due to water scarcity, women in most of these projects now have to depend for their drinking water on irrigation canals, piped water and bowsers.