스리랑카는 자프나 반도(the northern Jaffna peninsula, 스리랑카의 북쪽 반도)의 주민들에게 식수를 공급하기 위한 저수지 물 활용계획 실패 후, 해수담수화 시설의 건설 방안을 채택했다.

스리랑카 정부는 아시아 개발 은행에서 해수담수화 프로젝트 자금 조성을 위해 9천만 달러 대출을 고려했다고 밝혔다. 기존의 자프나 반도 남쪽 Iranaimadu 저수지에서 물을 끌어다 쓰는 제안이 농민들의 시위와 부적절한 가용량 판정으로 인해 반대되자 아시아 개발 은행에서 대출받은 자금으로 자프나 반도의 해수담수화시설 설립이 이뤄질 예정이다.

Sri Lanka has opted to construct a seawater desalination plant to supply drinking water to people in the northern Jaffna peninsula after a plan to divert water from a reservoir failed.

The Asian Development Bank has agreed to consider a loan of US$ 90 million to Sri Lanka to fund the desalination project, the government said. The loan would fund a seawater desalination plant in Jaffna after a proposal to divert water from the Iranaimadu reservoir, south of the peninsula, was abandoned following protests from farmers and inadequate capacity in the reservoir.

The cabinet of ministers has approved a proposal by water minister, Rauf Hakeem, to seek additional funds to revamp the Jaffna - Kilinochchi water supply and sanitation project.

Following the resettlement in Kilinochchi of people displaced by the ethnic war which ended in 2009, demand for water for irrigation increased, resulting in strong resistance from farmer organisations to share water with Jaffna district. The situation escalated after an unusually severe drought in 2012 when the water level in the Iranaimadu Tank fell drastically.

[출처 = Desalination & Water Reuse / 2015년 7월 28일]