COLOMBO, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 250,000 Sri Lankans have been affected by drinking water shortage due to drought, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said on Tuesday.

The DMC, in its latest report, said the northern and eastern provinces of the country had been the worst-hit areas.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) urged the public to use water sparingly as its capacity to supply purified drinking water has dropped to 9 percent.

Wasantha Illangasinghe, general manager of the NWSDB, told reporters last week that a Sri Lankan consumer of piped water uses about 120 liters a day, but only 40 liters are needed for cooking and drinking.

The country's department of meteorology said there will not be any significant rain until October. ■