Tsunami salt still contaminates Sri Lankan wells

Sri Lankan fishing communities are still suffering the effects of the 2004 Tsunami Copyright: IRD

By: T.V. Padma

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Tsunami salt still contaminates Sri Lankan wells</h1>
<h4>By: T.V. Padma</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>[NEW DELHI] The effects of the 2004 tsunami are still being felt in coastal Sri Lanka, where supplies of drinking water are badly contaminated with salt, say scientists.</P><br />
<P>The findings were published yesterday (9 May) in <em>Water Resources Research</em> by an international team of scientists who surveyed the coast from February to September 2005.</P><br />
<P>Most people in the area get their water from shallow, hand-dug wells. When the tsunami struck, about 40,000 of the wells were destroyed or contaminated as the sea flooded land and seeped into groundwater (see <a  href="/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&itemid=1856&language=1" target=_self rel="noopener noreferrer">Sri Lankan crops and water hit by tsunami salt</A>).</P><br />
<P>Local people’s attempts to pump seawater out of the wells have proved counter-productive, causing the weak-walled structures to collapse and leading to yet more seawater entering the groundwater.</P><br />
<P>Most coastal groundwater is stored in sandy aquifers that are replenished by the monsoon rains. </P><br />
<P>But the scientists say this process is taking longer than normal as the worst hit regions have not had adequate rainfall for the past year, and salt levels are declining extremely slowly in some wells. </P><br />
<P>Although the December 2005 monsoon rains were substantial, it will take many more monsoon seasons before the aquifers become fully recharged, they say.</P><br />
<P>The team says documenting the impacts of tsunamis, storm surges, cyclones and rising sea levels on water supplies is the first step towards developing international guidelines for treating contaminated groundwater sources.</P><br />
<P>Plans are underway to provide piped water to the affected coastal areas.</P><br />
<P><a  href="http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006.../2006WR004876.shtml" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to abstract of paper in <em>Water Resources Research</em></A></P><br />
<P>Reference: <em>Water Resources Research </em>42,<em> </em>W05201 (2006)<BR><BR></P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/tsunami-salt-still-contaminates-sri-lankan-wells/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/tsunami-salt-still-contaminates-sri-lankan-wells/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

[NEW DELHI] The effects of the 2004 tsunami are still being felt in coastal Sri Lanka, where supplies of drinking water are badly contaminated with salt, say scientists.

The findings were published yesterday (9 May) in Water Resources Research by an international team of scientists who surveyed the coast from February to September 2005.

Most people in the area get their water from shallow, hand-dug wells. When the tsunami struck, about 40,000 of the wells were destroyed or contaminated as the sea flooded land and seeped into groundwater (see Sri Lankan crops and water hit by tsunami salt).

Local people’s attempts to pump seawater out of the wells have proved counter-productive, causing the weak-walled structures to collapse and leading to yet more seawater entering the groundwater.

Most coastal groundwater is stored in sandy aquifers that are replenished by the monsoon rains.

But the scientists say this process is taking longer than normal as the worst hit regions have not had adequate rainfall for the past year, and salt levels are declining extremely slowly in some wells.

Although the December 2005 monsoon rains were substantial, it will take many more monsoon seasons before the aquifers become fully recharged, they say.

The team says documenting the impacts of tsunamis, storm surges, cyclones and rising sea levels on water supplies is the first step towards developing international guidelines for treating contaminated groundwater sources.

Plans are underway to provide piped water to the affected coastal areas.

Link to abstract of paper in Water Resources Research

Reference: Water Resources Research 42, W05201 (2006)