Experts: Sri Lanka Has a Shortage of Water Policy
In this village in southern Sri Lanka's Hambantota District, water sales are big business.
Beset by a prolonged dry spell and day-time temperatures reaching above 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Farenheit), the village has seen all of its wells run dry.
Water arrives once every three days in the form of a free government tanker, but it's not always enough to last. Buying a tanker of water privately costs 5,000 rupees ($34), more than most people can pay.
Instead the village's farmers and traders buy their water in one-liter bottles from small-scale vendors who charge four to 10 rupees a liter (less than one U.S. cent) for drinking water brought from about 30 kilometres away.
