More than six months have passed since Cyclone Ditwah which affected more than 2 million people nationwide. While recovery is still ongoing, in the mountainous regions of Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts in the Central region, access to safe drinking water and sanitation have become serious issues due to water sources contaminated by heavy rains and landslides. Field assessments revealed that some schools and evacuation facilities had water that was heavily turbid and contained sediment as well as contamination by E. coli.

Water turbidity and sediment (left: Nuwara Eliya province, right: Badulla province)

In response, A-PAD Sri Lanka, in cooperation with Relief Singapore, Airlink, Council for Business with Britain (CBB), the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre (DMC), and the National Disaster Relief Service Centre (NDRSC), provided water supply assistance to the affected communities.

This support mobilized 27 ROAM filter Plus water purifiers donated by Relief Singapore. With the support of Airlink, the purifiers were transported from Singapore to Sri Lanka, and customs clearance, storage, and transportation coordination to each region were handled with the cooperation of DMC and NDRSC. A-PAD Sri Lanka conducted needs assessments with local government agencies to select recipients. Furthermore, with the cooperation of CBB, installation support and user training were provided.

Water purifiers distributions

This operation was made possible with multi-sectoral partnerships, pooling their respective strengths to deliver support quickly and smoothly. The 27 water purifiers were installed primarily in schools and evacuation facilities in Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts, giving more than 13,000 people access to safe drinking water.

Staff walking to a community in Badulla province, an area difficult to access by vehicle.