Sri Lanka's economy is expanding faster, and tourism is also on the rise.
"With population, urbanization and increasing industrial growth, there are competing demands on water, it is not only agriculture," Jeremy Bird, director general of the International Water Management Institute, which is headquartered in Colombo.
"Plus we have seen over the past years we have seen some degradation of the environment.
"And now we need look at a more careful balance between the water we extract from the system and the water that is needed to maintain the environment, particularly to maintain the services that eco-systems provide to the nation.
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"We are in a situation where Sri Lanka is on the verge of having to look, certainly at stronger economic growth and regulating its water resources."
Water World
March 22 is celebrated as World Water Day.
According to the United Nations 85 percent of the global population lives in the driest half of the planet, 783 million people do