‘Bindu-Drops’ ISW funding will soon bring water to Sinnanadawilluwa
In June this year, the International Secretariat for Water (ISW) launched the “Global Youth Take Action – 2nd edition” call for projects. 211 projects focused on resolving crucial water resources management and climate change issues were submitted from over 70 countries, of which only nine projects were selected for funding.
Tharika Fernando
Among the nine finalists was Civil Engineer Tharika Fernando’s project titled ‘Bindu- Drops’, marking the first time a Sri Lankan project was selected. “I felt excited and blessed over the selection,” says Tharika. “Rather than an achievement of mine or our team, I felt grateful for being able to do a service to society.”
With the 5000 Canadian Dollars received as funding, ‘Bindu – Drops’ aims to provide residents of Sinnanadawilluwa, a village in Puttalam, with safe water by connecting the small community of 80 to the rural water supply. According to Tharika, while most residents in rural areas of Sri Lanka may have access to water, not all of them have access to safe, drinkable water.
Sinnanadawilluwa situated 5km away from the Anuradhapura road wasn’t connected to a rural pipe water system causing much hardship to residents.
The project is being managed by ‘Today for Tomorrow’, a charitable foundation initiated by Tharika earlier this year. The Today for Tomorrow team initially planned to construct a tube well system at the heart of the village where residents could get a constant supply of water through a pump mechanism. But the village has no source to generate the electricity needed. “After analyzing the alternatives we found that getting them connected to a rural water supply scheme would be sustainable,” says Tharika. It was then decided that the most reliable way for the village to acquire safe water is to connect it to the community based water scheme through a rural pipe system. Tharika underscores that the labour cost of laying the pipe must be borne by the community.
A regular supply of water also allows the residents to engage in cultivating home gardens rather than seeking unskilled labour positions in other regions as they have had to do previously. Today for Tomorrow also plans to construct two rain water harvesting tanks to supply the village with year round water for agricultural purposes.
The team plans to establish a youth water community where youth representatives can visit the village and engage and empower rural residents and conduct knowledge sharing sessions on water, sanitation, agriculture and others.
Once COVID restrictions ease the team will travel to the village and begin putting their plans into action. The projects must be completed according to the timeline stipulated by the ISW – by December this year.
To view updates about the project visit: www.youthwaterclimate.org