• Unprotected wells provide water for over 16%, 88.7% lacked basic sanitation
• 6.3% not used basic sanitation, 0.1% still practise open defecation 

A recent survey carried out by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) on the Household Drinking Water Quality has found that 20.3% of the household population in Sri Lanka lacks even basic drinking water facilities. 

It has also been revealed that the main source of drinking water for 16.1% of the household population in the country were unprotected wells.

Furthermore, the key findings of the survey has revealed that only around one-third of the household population, which is 33.4%, had access to a safely managed drinking water source located on the premises, consistently available whenever needed, and free from faecal (Escherichia coli) contamination.

Meanwhile, two in three (68.6%) people in the urban sector and nearly one in four (28.2%) people in the rural sector use safely managed drinking water sources, while only 3.1 % were reported from the estate sector for the same, as per the survey findings.

Additionally, the survey report reveals that 6.3% of the household population in Sri Lanka had not used at least a basic sanitation service and that 0.1% of the household population island-wide still practised open defecation. In the meantime, 88.7% of the household population lacked even a basic sanitation service and used a limited sanitation service, as per the survey findings.