In the Ambatale, Kaduwela bridge and Kalu Paalama areas of the river, the arsenic content in the water is 100 per cent, national organizer of the Environmental and Nature Studies Centre Ravindra Kariyawasam has told Neth FM.

 

This is causing severe harm to the environment and the people using the water are risking kidney disease in the long-term, he said.

 

According to him, arsenic content in the Kelani goes up during the rainy season, when factories located near its banks directly divert their effluent into the river.

 

Recently, the river was contaminated due to the leakage of an underground fuel pipe of Coca Cola factory at Biyagama, also causing losses for the Water Board and the Ceylon Electricity Board.

 

The Water Board general manager Ranjith Balasuriya said they would recover the loss.