Bill on water and sanitation services dubbed

Government has presented a bill named the “Water Bill” to parliament, seeking to regulate the services of water and sanitation through fair and sustainable means and to determine responsibility to damages to water sources.

Presented on behalf of the government by Maduvvari MP Visam Ali, the Water Bill seeks to define the relevant ministry as the body responsible for establishing the proper policies on water and sanitation services and in turn, seeks to establish a specific agency responsible for the implementation of the policies.

The bill requires the agency to; regulate and issue licenses to companies that produce drinking water, maintain a registry of such companies, maintain information and records regarding the water and sanitation services across the country. It also states that the agency is responsible to determine the minimum daily amount of water required by an individual citizen.

The bill allows the agency to delegate the maintenance and management of water and sewerage system services in the islands to the relevant island councils, but states that the agency may only do so if the minimum requirements for the services are fulfilled and that it shall be only be done through an agreement between the authoritative ministry and the agency.

The Water Bill also seeks to conserve the water lens. It states that all water lenses on uninhabited islands, including tourist resorts and the land reclaimed on island tourist resorts and commercial islands, with the exception of islands used for agriculture, shall all be conserved and declared protected.

The bill requires the parties seeking to utilize such protected water supplies to obtain special permits from established agency. However, the agency will not have the authority to issue permanent permits for the purpose.

The Water Bill also states all substances that might contaminate the water lens, such as chemicals and oils, shall be transported with due consideration and in a properly sealed manner. It states that spilling such a substance to the ground as a crime, and the party that contaminates a water lens, through negligence or otherwise, shall take full responsibility their actions.

The bill allows fines from MVR 500 to MVR 100 million to be levied on companies and individuals who breach the laws defined by the bill.