By Kalana Krishantha
In Sri Lanka, hydropower generation has a long history, spread throughout decades. Many major hydropower projects successfully completed here still contribute considerably to the national electricity supply of the country.
Fault in the power plants
With time, suitable geographical locations for establishing state-owned mega hydropower plants became limited. The government had to direct their attention towards alternatives. Among them, coal power plants, run by private-owned diesel power plants, are major examples. In Sri Lanka, the advantages of using mini hydropower plants have not been emerging due to the critical and strong nature of disadvantages. Mini hydropower plants cause loss of endemic and endangered freshwater species and groundwater, destruction of rainforests in catchment areas, soil erosion and landslides among others.
These disasters occur because of lack of proper supervision mechanism and estimation of the environmental influence of those projects. Mini-Hydro plants currently under construction are done by a handful of private companies with the aim of generating maximum profit. The current process does not involve any Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) by an independent organisation. Instead, the project developer submits an Initial Environment Examination (IEE) report which is often biased and contains false information and the process is not open for public comments. Certain corrupt officers receiving financial benefits through mini-hydro projects immediately approve the reports with no field investigations carried out during or after construction.
Additional obstacles
The average contribution of a mini-hydro project to the national grid is approximately one Megawatt (MW) which is just 0.02% of total generation capacity of 4,200 MW. Even if all viable waterfalls, streams, and rivers are dammed for mini-hydro projects, no more than 400 MW will be added to the national grid. This is less than five percent of the estimated energy demand by 2025. The depletion of groundwater will eventually reduce the capacity of mini-hydro projects thus reducing its contribution to the national grid even further.
Destruction of water sources by private companies for a minuscule amount of power is not going to help solve the energy crisis at all. The repercussions to the environment and society are far greater than the benefit. In the 2018 budget, the government has introduced many sustainable development policies. This budget emphasises the concept of Eco Tourism.
Upcoming disasters
How will eco-tourism be promoted if beautiful natural resources and rainforests are destroyed by mini hydropower mafia? The most recent example is the Kithulgala mini hydropower plant. The area has a natural potential to attract the tourists. If the construction process for it continues further, there may be many disastrous environmental impacts.
When natural water flows through concrete canals and ways instead of on the soil, the humidity of the soil vanishes and surrounding rainforests are affected. As a result, streams dry up and leads to soil instability which can cause landslides, similar to what happened in Neluwa and a few other areas recently.
The gradual depletion of the rainforest density will pave the way to atmospheric and climate changes in particular areas. Lack of water resources and climate changes will directly affect the farmers and the water consumption of villagers. According to the climate risk index 2018, Sri Lanka is among the first five countries at risk. In that context, even a slight environmental change can create havoc.
Abnormal silence, contradictory actions
There have been many public protests till now about Kithulgala and mini hydropower plant issues. However, the Central Environmental Authority or relevant ministers have been unable to address the issue correctly. Also, they have been unable to create some fair negotiation platform for this issue.
The mini hydropower plant issue in Sri Lanka, unlike other countries, has become similar to a mafia. Billionaire businessmen own those mini-hydropower plants in Sri Lanka. They are selling the generated electricity to the government at unreasonable and expensive prices. Corrupted officers in Central Environmental Authority support them in continuing the process without considering environmental hazards.
President Maithripla Sirisena, the Environment Minister, delivers brave statements on environmental conservation frequently. Unfortunately, many of his statements have not become realities at the ground level. As a minister, it is his responsibility to take a look at the issue and take some actions to prevent the harm and stop the corrupted officials.
The way forward
In the 2018 budget proposals, there are suggestions to convert all the vehicles to electric vehicles by 2040. The annual electricity demand is increasing rapidly. In order to reach these targets, there are alternative renewable sources available to generate energy. The government is going to establish the wind power plant in Mannar. There are other projects to promote the solar energy generation as a progressive effort. Meanwhile, waste-to-energy projects have to be implemented rather than destroying the environment with mini hydropower mafia, which has been destroying the natural beauty of the country and the potential of eco-tourism.
This post first appeared on SL Guardian
Featured Image Source: PSNH on Visual hunt / CC BY-ND
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