Waste water into pure water project for Kandy

Earth, air and water are the basic elements man has been struggling to protect for decades, but little thought had been given to wastewater. It too is there, as well as pure water; most of the time the former polluting the latter. The Kandy Wastewater Project has been implemented with the intention of collecting wastewater and converting it to pure water before it is discharged into the Mahaweli River of which the waters are used by the public for drinking, bathing and washing purposes.

The ‘Meda Ela’ in Kandy town into which the dirty water flows, finally falls into the Mahaweli Ganga. Kandy Wastewater Project acting project director Sarath Gamini, who is also the Director of the Greater Kandy Water Supply Project told the Kandy Times most people were under the impression that the project was another solid waste dumping project.

“We need the wastewater disposal system badly because the Mahaweli is a river used as a drinking water resource and as a bathing place. Fortunately, the water intake for the use of the town is situated a few metres above where the Meda Ela falls into the river, so at least the water used in Kandy town is not polluted. But, during tides, the water goes upstream and the dirty water gets mixed with the water going into the intake,” Mr. Gamini said.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs.12 billion and by December, Japanese consultants would prepare tender documents and select the contractors to continue with the project as Japan funds the project. It is estimated that 17,000 cubic metres of waste water would be collected every day by the project covering 713 hectares. The service area has collection lines 109 km long bringing the waste water.

12,200 houses, hotels and other institutions situated in the service area are expected to join the project.“Septic tanks are built for houses and people have their own wastewater disposal systems, but still there is no proper mechanism to keep the domestic sanitation systems under control as there are no standard designs for domestic septic tanks,” Mr. Gamini said.

The project is scheduled to be concluded by the end of 2011 and to start functioning from 2012. Institutions and houses whose owners join the project during the construction stage would be able to get the connection free of charge but those joining later would have to pay for the pipes and the labour involved.

“There is nothing wrong in paying a small tax to keep the water you use clean when we waste money on some useless things,” he said. “Most of the time waste water is generated in solid waste dumping yards. The dirt gets mixed with water when it rains and then the germs along with dirty water will finally flow into the river”, Mr. Gamini said.

“The hepatitis outbreak in Gampaha was caused by residents consuming polluted water. We checked samples of water consumed by residents who are lucky to be alive. We see wells near toilet pits. It’s quite difficult to avoid situations like this in cities but still, that can’t be an excuse,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ven. Walmoruwe Dharmaloka Thera of the Thumbomaluwa Vihara in Kandy said that the main reason he and his dayakas opposed this project was that the pump house for the project was to be built too close to the vihara.

“The Dagaba and the Bo tree would be only yards away from the pumping station to be built. It doesn’t suit this environment. We think that it will be a disturbance to the activities of the temple, due to the smell or whatever,” the Thera said. Though the Thera had been reassured that there would not be any odour emanating, he refused to take the word. “We are the ones who have to face the consequences, especially because it is planned to hand over the maintenance to the municipal council,” the Thera said.

“We signed a petition against building this pumping station near the temple and sent it to all the relevant authorities. 350 residents of the area signed the petition. We may not be able to stop the pump house being built here but we are not going to stop protesting,” he said.

Kandy Water Supply and Drainage Board assistant engineer Gamini Dharmapala said the waste water would not be retained in the pump house for a long time. It will be auto-pumped as soon as it is collected. As the place is sealed, there is no way the odour could come out”, he said.

“We informed the Thera and we sent him letters explaining matters, but still he seems to oppose the project. It is an underground pumping station that is to be built there. It will be sealed and the control room - the only visible part of the pumping station - too will be covered by trees”, Mr. Dharmapala said.

He said building the pumping station near the temple was essential as the collection of wastewater from 30 houses situated below gravity level.“Without pumping that waste water and bringing it up to the level of the main pipeline, we won’t be able to collect waste water from those houses”.

Seven small pumping stations are also to be built in low lying areas situated below the level of William Gopallawa Mawatha so that the wastewater from those areas could be pumped to the disposal area. Mr. Dharmapala told the Kandy Times it is planned to train the municipal council crew on maintaining the waste water project by working with them for three years and by sending them abroad for training as well.

“The Kandy Municipal Council has changed its bylaws requesting people to join the project when they build houses in future. By the time the project is completed, we plan to have all the houses in the area covered by the project,” he said.