Hayleys Puritas wins global water award
View(s):Puritas, a subsidiary of the Hayleys Group, was a world winner in the category of Water – for its acclaimed Hayleys’ Puritas Sathdiyawara project for providing clean drinking water to people with chronic kidney disease through its reverse osmosis water purification systems and comprehensive strategic village upliftment.
The first place was tied with the Kerman Copper Region of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its integrated water master plan to provide water for the Sarchechmen mine, which includes an upgrade of tailings disposal and water management system, according to Hayleys media release.
Over 2,000 projects from 178 countries were submitted for the prestigious environmental award in five categories: Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Youth. The jury, led by Maneka Gandhi, environmentalist and Indian Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development, selected 16 finalists and awarded the five most outstanding environmental projects.
The award in the category Air went to the Austrian Post for reducing their ecological footprint by replacing conventional vehicles with electric vehicles in their operations. Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust from New Zealand received the award in the category Youth for their flagship education centre, where pupils, community groups and business are taught to become guardians of the environment. The award in the category Earth went to the Rural Green Environment Organisation from Afghanistan for its efforts to reforest degraded watershed and establish fruit orchards through community involvement in one of the remotest and poorest mountainous valleys. Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences from India received the award in the category Fire. Green initiatives undertaken by this institute have found a great way to reduce the ecological footprint for large scale cooking.
To date Puritas Sathdiyawara provides 160,000 litres of clean drinking water daily to over 33,000 men, women and children across 19 villages in the North and North Central provinces since 2014. Each project is sponsored by a group company, and to-date the Hayleys Group has invested more than Rs. 63 million in this initiative. It consists of a formalised water distribution network through a bowser and multiple docking stations throughout the village to ensure all villagers have equal access to purified water.
Commenting on this outstanding achievement which puts Sri Lanka on the Global Sustainability map, Managing Director, Haycarb and Puritas, Rajitha Kariyawasan said: “This global recognition is beyond what we had ever envisioned when we started Hayleys’ Puritas Sathdiyawara in 2014. Our single-minded focus then and now, lies in eradicating CKD within the country. Sathdiyawara also consciously supports villages whose grim conditions are exacerbated not only by this debilitating illness but also by drought, dry arid conditions including floods, which deny them of basic access to drinking water. We are extremely humbled beyond words that our genuine efforts have received such global acclaim.”
The international ENERGY GLOBE Awards / World Award are presented annually in the realm of a festive ceremony. The event was held in Tehran.