In
Sri Lanka, disposal of waste is a major environmental and social problem, which
leads to several health problems like dengue in urban areas. As responsible
government, Sri Lanka should have a proper way of disposing of waste. But in
Sri Lanka, disposal of waste is mainly done by maintaining an open dump site,
which will cause many environmental and health problems. Instead of open
dumpsites, one proper way of deposing waste is maintaining a sanitary landfill.
Moon Plains is one such sanitary landfill, which is started in 1996 by the
Nuwara Eliya municipal council as a normal dumping site, and converted in to a
sanitary landfill in 2003 with the help of JICA foundation. This land fill is
located in a valley surrounded by a cultivated Eucalyptus forest, which is owned by the forest department, outside
the Nuwara Eliya municipal council. And it is close to a water stream which provides
water to a reservoir called Bomuraella which used for domestic and agricultural
purposes by the people who are live around the reservoir. Initially this valley
is used as an open dump site by the Municipal council without taking any environmental
protection measures.
This
valley which is 400m long and 30-40 meter deep is a part of 5.8ha catchment.
And this valley consists of sandy clay soil and bed rock is a hard rock. Since
Nuwara Eliya located in wet zone annual rain fall is around 2700mm therefore it
gives rice to a seasonal stream which connects to the close by stream. When all
the Municipal waste, Hospital waste and industrial waste is dump without any
environmental protection measures it can easily contaminate that water stream
and the reservoir causing serious environmental and health care problems to the
society.
