Berendina provides purified drinking water facility in Mullaitivu

Berendina successfully constructed and handed over a Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant for the people of Ampalavan Pokkanai GN Division of Maritimpattu DS Division in the Mullativu District. 

The handing over ceremony was held on October 26. K. Kanageswaran, Additional District Secretary, Mullaitivu was the Chief Gust of the event who officially declared open the RO Plant. Vanni Parliamentarian Subramanyam Noharathalingam, graced the event as the Guest of Honour while K. Thavaraja, Chairman of Pradesiya Saba, Maritimampattu, Rev. Fr. Mariyathas, and other government officials along with Berendina officials were also present, Beredina said in a media release.
Several people living in North Central Province, Eastern Province and Northern Province in Sri Lanka die every year due to kidney failure (Chronic Kidney Disease - CKD) and one of the contributors to this trend is consuming contaminated ground water. The disease has a direct impact on patients’ daily life including livelihood activities, consumption patterns and their participation in social activities at community level.
Such a situation was prevailing at Ampalavan Pokkanai GN Division which consists of 5 villages with 352 families who live closer to the sea. The main income source of the village community is fishing. These villages were severely affected during the separatist war in 2009. Due to the geological setting of these villages which are closer to the sea and lagoon, 80% of the wells in the villages have salty and murky water with a mix of mineral contents. The villagers have to depend on few wells that provide limited good drinking water or have to walk 6 km to fetch drinking water from a water plant. Due to the consumption of contaminated water, already 11 persons in these villages have been affected by CKD.
After the initial discussion held at the district development committee, the Divisional Secretariat made a request to Berendina to provide a feasible solution to address the grave issue faced by the village community. Subsequently, Berendina agreed to set up a Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant with the contribution of the community which in return immensely benefit the village people. The overall objectives of the project are to provide safe drinking water to the village community, to utilize net profits generated from the social enterprise to be used to health and educational related assistance to families affected by CKD.
The Divisional Secretariat provided the land to build the plant and the ground water is pumped from a dug well located closely. Berendina contributed Rs. 1.4 million for the project, providing the much needed machinery of purification unit and distribution unit of the plant. The building was constructed by the contribution of village community amounting to Rs. 400,000.
The plant has the capacity of providing 10,000 litres per day. It was decided to sell the purified water at a maximum price of Rs. 1.50 per litre which is lesser than purchasing from commercial vendors in the past. It is projected that the average consumption of water per day would be 1,500 litres. The Ambalawanpokkanai Woman Rural Development Society is assigned to manage and maintain the plant. This will enable the Women’s Society to give rural women an opportunity to run an enterprise in a profitable manner, so that they can contribute towards greater services for their community.
Some of the expected benefits from successfully running the RO plant are provide quality and safe drinking water for at least 600 families in Mullaitivu district at an affordable price, increasing the quality of life by easy access to water, less time spent on traveling for water, etc, improve the health conditions of village community by minimizing the spreading of kidney disease due to contaminated water consumption, create a sustainable income generation activity local community based organization, and support CKD affected families with their medical needs and their children with scholarships to continue education through the profits generated from the venture, the release said.
 

Opening of the new water plant