They charged that wells in Jaffna have been polluted by an oil storage facility in Kodikaman.

The protesters called on the authorities to immediately bring to book the culprits responsible for the contamination of the wells.
Wells are an integral part of life for Jaffna residents especially for agriculture and the demonstrators called on the authorities responsible to provide the people in Jaffna with the necessary equipment to purify the wells saying it is the only alternative.

The protesters also called on the government to seek the services of local and foreign consultants to overcome the water crisis and said that not only Jaffna but every part in the country which has contaminated water should be addressed.
Meanwhile a company supplying electricity to Jaffna called Northern Power (PVT) Limited and its parent company MTD Works PLC warned against misinformation that could aggravate the situation further.

“We are not responsible for the contamination of water in Jaffna or any other place and this is something we have always proved time and again with regard to a clean environment. We have always protected the environment in the past and will continue to do so in the future”, said Lal Perera the CEO of MTD Works PLC.
“It is very sad that we have been accused of being responsible for the water crisis in Jaffna. Our fear is that without getting to the bottom of all this and identifying the real threat, the wrong solutions may be found and thereby aggravate the situation”, he added.

He recalled that in 1987 the Ceylon Electricity Board’s oil tanks at Chunnakam which was destroyed during the war caused an oil catastrophe and the blame was not on Northern Power Works but on the Ceylon Electricity Board.

“Unfortunately these protesters have overlooked what happened in the past and now accuse us of being responsible for the water crisis in Jaffna. We will face any probe by a recognized international environment authority. My appeal to these protesters is not to be carried away by misleading information and wait for the outcome of the inquiry that is being conducted by the High Court in Jaffna on who or what is responsible for this crisis”, said Perera.

Perera also said they were always behind the population of Jaffna even when children had no electricity and studied under bottle lamps and will be the first to take on the gauntlet on behalf of the Tamil people on any issue affecting their welfare.