DROWNING IN DEBT & DISEASE: City Neglect Crushes Urban Poor

Rotting Pipes, Clogged Drains Unleash Economic Ruin: Families Lose Wages, Face Crippling Medical Bills, Watch Homes Flood

- BY RASANI SONALI

For thousands of struggling families in our cities, the pipes and drains under their streets aren’t just broken - they’re ruining their lives and ability to earn a living. A shocking new study conducted by Marga Institute with Gamani Corea Foundation shows the harsh truth about the money problems caused by this neglect: overflowing drains and dirty water are devastating poor city neighborhoods.

Urban dwellers are losing money because they can't work, facing huge medical bills, seeing their homes flooded, and constantly spending money just to find safe water.

We already know dirty, standing water spreads diseases like dengue and cholera. But this study figures out the hidden, crushing cost when officials don’t fix these problems. It shows exactly how broken drains and sewers lead straight to empty wallets and hopeless situations for struggling families. The study looked closely at the money lost from constant floods, the cost of getting sick from living near waste, the problems caused by poor garbage collection, and asked a big question: Where is the taxpayer money that’s supposed to fix all this actually going?

On the Front Lines of Failure

To see how bad this problem is across the country, the Marga Institute studied all 25 districts of Sri Lanka. We used health reports and information about water and sanitation infrastructure and services from the authorities to carefully survey about 50 struggling households in each district. That’s about 1,390 homes in total. It focused on families identified as living right in the middle of the water and sanitation crisis. These are areas with poor housing, often right next to open sewers and dirty canals. Many lack basic things like good roofs, clean water, or working toilets.