Squatting
atop a large concrete tank N. Kahawita peers down through an
open hatch, checking the water levels in the darkness below.
Nearby Upul Baduge is opening a valve that releases water from
the holding tank into a purification system. From here the water
is pumped 50 feet vertically into a concrete water tower perched
on a hilltop that dominates the surrounding landscape.
Despite their experience, neither Kahawita nor Baduge are water
engineers. They are members of a Community Based Organization
(CBO) that has been set up by the Red Cross and the National
Water Board to run a water supply scheme in Seenimodera in southern
Sri Lanka.
Kahawita leads this CBO that supplies drinking water to 275
houses in five villages. The villages comprise families who
have been resettled in the area after the tsunami as well as
long-term residents. The eleven members of the CBO are drawn
from the community and have been trained and supervised by technicians
from Australian Red Cross and the National Water Supply and
Drainage Board (NWSDB). After seven months they are experts
at operating and maintaining the system.
The project aims to put the community in charge of its own assets.
The CBO is responsible for setting prices, maintaining and operating
the equipment, hiring and paying employees to run the project
and educating the community on water issues.
CBO members hope to start issuing bills and paying workers this
month. A community meeting has been held to collectively decide
how much to charge for each unit of water consumed by the settlements
and the cost to each household for the purchase and installation
of meters.
“We have already collected 400,000 rupees as payment for
the meters, which we hope to buy and install within the next
few weeks. Some of this money will also be used to pay salaries
to three employees we recently hired,” explains Upul Baduge
who acts as Treasurer of the CBO.
Australian Red Cross has funded and built the entire water supply
scheme with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society
and the NWSDB. It’s been a massive undertaking involving
the construction of a high-tech water treatment plant, a 100,000
litre capacity water tower, a 50,000 litre ground water collection
tank and over 10km of high-quality poly-ethylene piping for
delivering water to each house. The system is able to pump up
to 245,000 litres per day of groundwater from two bore holes,
which passes through the treatment plant and then up to the
water tower, from where it can be fed to each house.
“The system has been designed with the community in mind,
ensuring easy operation and minimal maintenance for up to fifty
years”, says Barry Armstrong, Australian Red Cross’
country coordinator.
Ever since the community at Seenimadora was first established
water has been a major problem for local residents. Those living
in the pre-tsunami settlements had to depend on a well one kilometre
away from their homes. Sometimes they had to pay water bowsers
or three wheel taxis to bring water, or carry cans back up the
steep hillside.
“The water was also murky and had a high iron content,”
says Pritesh Shah, a water and sanitation delegate with Australian
Red Cross. “We dug new wells, and the iron content has
been reduced through the purification process”.
For housewife Ramyalatha Piyadasa water on tap at home is a
luxury and one of the best things to have happened since the
tsunami.
“It used to take hours to go back and forth to get enough
water for the family’s use. All four members of our family
had to stand in line to fill cans and then bring it all the
way uphill”, she explains. “Now we have enough water
to use in our garden and for the first time I can plant flowers
and even grow vegetables.”
The Red Cross will support the Seenimodera CBO for another year
to make sure that the community has the necessary expertise
and confidence to run the scheme well into the future.
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N.
Kahawita checks the water level of his community’s
new 50,000 litre ground water collection tank. Kahawita
is the leader of the Seenimodera Community Based Organization
(CBO). His team has been set up to manage and maintain
a new water scheme that is providing clean water to 275
households in five villages. (p15772)
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CBO
member Upul Baduge checks equipment at the Seenimodera
water supply plant. Australian Red Cross has funded and
built the entire water supply scheme with the assistance
of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society and the National Water
Supply and Drainage Board. The CBO is responsible for
setting prices, maintaining and operating the equipment,
hiring and paying employees to run the project and educating
the community on water issues. (p15773)
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Ramyalatha Piyadasa water on tap at home is a luxury and
one of the best things to have happened since the tsunami.
“It used to take hours to go back and forth to get
enough water for the family’s use,” she says.
“Now we have enough water to use in our garden and
for the first time I can plant flowers and even grow vegetables.”
(p15774) |
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