Water, health and poverty are closely linked to each other. Health and poverty have two way-relationship: good health brings prosperity, and prosperity brings improvements in health; or conversely poor health may create and perpetuate poverty and poverty may lead to poor health. Water is at the center and contributes to both health and poverty. Water influences health through direct consumption for drinking and for sanitation, and for its use in food and nutrition in the households. Water also contributes to livelihoods of the poor as a key input in the production process in agricultural and non-agricultural uses and in the environment in which poor people live and depend on. Good human health and environmental health contributes to poverty reduction, and vice versa, with water being key to both. Poverty causes natural resources degradation, influencing environmental health, which in turn creates more poverty. These linkages are examined in this paper using a simplified framework using available general data for Sri Lanka and cases extracted from other research outputs in the country. Key lessons are highlighted in relation to social safety nets, the importance of covering ground water resources in the development of the Water Policy, and the need for improved irrigation management, particularly noting the interaction between irrigation water and domestic water in the rural areas.

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