ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an ongoing study carried out jointly by the University of Moratuwa and Network for Women Water Professionals Sri Lanka, on the impacts of current environmental policy and wetland management strategies on the degradation of urban wetlands in Colombo. The storm-water drainage system in the area mainly consists of medium-sized rectangular open drains. Apart from the constructed drains, natural storm-water gullies and small streams are also present. It was revealed in key informant interviews that the streams and the pools in the wetlands were regularly used for bathing and washing until early 1980s. Conservation of wetlands and public waterways such as Colombo Flood Detention Area (CFDA) wetlands were covered even under the earliest laws in Sri Lanka such as the Crown Land Ordinance. CFDA wetlands play an important functional role in ensuring the essential urban services of flood control and drainage in the city of Colombo and its suburbs.
