The timely requirement of providing safe drinking water to resettled families in Northern and Eastern provinces in Sri Lanka

The timely requirement of providing safe drinking water to resettled families in Northern and Eastern provinces in Sri Lanka

The Northern Province is located in the north of Sri Lanka and 35 Km south to Indian Peninsula. The total land extent of the province is 8884 km² and the residing population is 1 058 762. Northern Province consists of five administrative districts (Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullathiv, Mannr and Vavunia)

The total land extent in Estern province is 9999km2 and consists of three administrative districts which are Trincomalee, Baticloe and Ampara. The population in Eastern province is 1 551 381.

Water Quality and Water sources in Northern and Eastern province.
People living in these provinces get water from various sources and getting water from shallow wells is rear.  The reason for that is shallow wells is considered as unsafe and they remain dry for more than three months of the year.  Many of the water sources used are underground water sources such as deep wells or tube wells.   In Wanni area the drinking water requirement is fulfilled mostly by water tanks which are fed by perennial rivers throughout the year. However, the quality of water in all these sources is not satisfactory even in rainy seasons and the reason for that is availability of high concentration of Calcium and salinity in water. 

The climate and the rain fall pattern in these two provinces are quite similar and there is a very dry and hot climate from February to September in every year. But there is a quite wet and cool climate in rainy season which is from October to January.  Although there are some geographical differences in these provinces commonly the annual rainfall is low and both provinces located in dry zone. In the Mannar district which belongs to Northern Province, gets the annual rain fall less than 900mm and as a whole the annual rain fall is less than 1500mm in two provinces.  On the other hand due to the higher environmental temperature (28⁰C- 30⁰C) the evapotranspiration is also high. With the soil composition, rain fall pattern and environmental temperature it is very difficult to find shallow water sources with accepted quality and the hardness of water is very high. The most important fact is that the heat stress for the people living in the area is also high.

Annual rain fall pattern of Sri Lanka    – Web Dept. of meteorology

Chronic kidney Disease Uncertain etiology (CKDU)

Chronic kidney Disease Uncertain etiology (CKDU) has become an imaging health issue in these two provinces. This condition is spreading rapidly from North Central province and there are large numbers of studies and researches have been carried out and are being doing on this issue.  

There are few assumptions that have been done to elaborate chronic kidney disease uncertain etiology and one assumption is that there is a collaborative effect of few factors together.

Another assumption is that this can be a result of the combination of external infections, genetically and nutritional. (WHO and National Science Foundation (NSF), Sri Lanka, 2016; Wijewickrama et al., 2019). However, there is an another assumption that the use of ground water or some agricultural products done using ground water can have an effect on kidneys. (Athuraliya et al., 2011; Rango et al., 2015)

Presently, it has revealed that the heat stress to the people can positively effect on CKDU.

By considering all the factors, It is essential to provide treated safe drinking water in sufficient quantities to the people living in Northern and Eastern provinces of the country for uplifting health conditions.

Treatment methodologies for providing safe drinking waterin water supply sector in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, various water treatment methodologies which were bit primitive have been used for treatment of water from the history. Many of them were successful in times and environments where very low water pollution and presently, it is essential to identify effective technologies for water treatment for drinking purposes.

Although the use of active carbon, water distillation, Ionization, iron exchange and reverse osmosis etc. can be used for water treatment, few of them can be used in large scale.  

By considering the Efficiency, cost, environmental friendly and the ability to use in large scale, professionals have identified that use of Nano technology and Electro dialysis reversal (EDR) Technologies are very much favorable in controlling CKDU in Sri Lanka.