Water Resources Board (Amendment) Act 1999

This Act may be cited as the Water Resources Board

(Amendment) Act, No. 42 of 1999.

Section 12 of the Water Resources Board Act, No.29

of 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the “ principal enactment”)

is hereby repealed and the following section substituted there-for :-

12. (1) It shall be the duty of the Board to advise the Minister on the following matters, and on any other matter that is referred to the Board for advice by the

Minister :-

the control, regulation and development

the prevention of the pollution of rivers, streams and other water resources ;

the formulation of national policies relating to the control and use of the water resources of the country with the following objectives in view :-

the multi-purpose development and use of water resources ;

the short-term and long-term provision of water resources for domestic supplies and industrial supplies ;

the control of salinity ;

any other like objective ;

the preparation of comprehensive and integrated plans for the conservation, utilization, control and development of the groundwater resources of the country ;

the co-ordination of the activities of government departments, local authorities and public corporations, in regard to surveys of basic data and other investigations, relating to hydrogeology ;

the analysis of reports based on investigations, statistical surveys, plans and proposals relating to the groundwater resources of the country made by government departments, local authorities and public corporations ;

the co-ordination of projects undertaken by government departments, local authorities and public corporations, relating to the conservation, utilization and development of the subterranean water resources of the country, and the assessment of the possibilities, benefits and economic feasibility of such projects ;

any other suitable measures to be taken by the Government for the proper control and economic use of groundwater.

The

The Board may carry out such other activities, for payment or otherwise, as would enable it to effectually perform its duties under subsection (1) of this section. The activities which the

carrying out of feasibility studies on the availability of ground water resources ;

carrying out of hydrogeological investigations to identify ground water sites for deep tube wells and agro wells ;

the construction of tube wells in a scientific manner to enable the extraction of groundwater for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes ;

the drilling of bore holes to investigate the sub surface strata.”.

Section 14 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the repeal of subsection (1) of that section and the substitution therefore of the following subsection :-

Act, No.42 of 1999

“(1) There shall be a Committee which shall be called the

“Inter-departmental Advisory Committee to the Water

Resources Board” (hereinafter referred to as the

“Advisory Committee”) consisting of -

the Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister to whom the Water Resources Board has been assigned ;

The Additional Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister to whom the Water Resources

The Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister to whom the subject of Health has been assigned or his nominee ;

The Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister to whom the subject of Indigenous Medicine has been assigned or his nominee ;

The Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister to whom the subject of Local Government has been assigned or his nominee ;

The Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister to whom the subject of Provincial Councils has been assigned or his nominee ;

The Director-General of Irrigation ;

The Chairman, of the Ceylon Electricity

The Chairman, of the Geological Survey and

The Director - General of the Department of

The Land Commissioner ;

The Surveyor-General ;

The Commissioner of Agrarian Services ;

The Director-General of the Department of

The Chairman, of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board established by the

The Conservator of Forests ;

The Chairman, of the Road Development

The General Manager, Sri Lanka Railways.”.

Section 20 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in subsection (1) of that section, by the substitution for the words “five hundred rupees” or the words “ five thousand rupees”.

Section 21 of the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows :-

“by the substitution for the definition of the expres-sion “local authority” of the following definition :-

by the substitution, in the definition of the expression “Local Government Service” for the words

The principal enactment is hereby amended in the provision specified in Column I of the Schedule to this Act, by the substitution, for the word or expression specified in the corresponding entry in Column II of that Schedule, of the word or expression specified in the corresponding entry in

Column III of that Schedule.

In the event of any inconsistency between the

Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall pre-vail.

Act, No.42 of 1999