The Japanese Government supports the fourth Sri Lanka Water Project
Ryuji Kuwahara • March 10, 2021
The Japanese Government supports the fourth Sri Lanka Water Project
The signing of a contract for a grant from the Japanese Government signified the start of the fourth joint water project between Green Cross Sri Lanka and Green Cross Japan.
Contract being signed by the Japanese Ambassador and Green Cross Sri Lanka President for the fourth water project.
Since 2015, Green Cross Sri Lanka and Green Cross Japan have teamed up to complete water supply projects in three different areas of Sri Lanka. These projects address a major concept and theme of Green Cross International: Water for Life and Peace.
The fourth joint Water Project was recently started after Green Cross Sri Lanka signed a contract for financial support from the Japanese Government on March 3, 2021. The Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects will provide funding for this water supply project at Lahugala Village, in eastern Sri Lanka. The grant given from Japanese Government to Green Cross Sri Lanka is 85,682 USD and will have a lasting and positive impact on this region of Sri Lanka. The contract signing ceremony was held at Japanese Ambassador’s Residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka between the Japanese Ambassador and the Green Cross Sri Lanka President, Mr. Jagath.
Learn more by reading the official Press Release on the contract signing ceremony from the Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka here:
The Lahugala Village is a remote village located in the dry zone in the Ampara district of eastern Sri Lanka. The people who live here have been suffering severely from water scarcity and hygiene concerns for years. This becomes especially concerning during the dry season, which typically spans from April to October each year.
To fetch water, women and children have to walk a distance of 10 to 15 kilometers. But the process of collecting water is not the primary concern. The water that is available is often dirty, unsafe and contaminated. Due to the daily usage of unclean water, particularly when it comes to drinking water, many people in the village have been suffering from kidney disease and other water-borne diseases.
Members of the Lahugala Village collecting water.
To alleviate these concerns, Green Cross Sri Lanka and Green Cross Japan will provide the entire village with approx. 400 households: 1,500 people, with safe water by constructing a water supply system which consists of a deep well, filtering facility, water tank tower, and pipelines. The water project is planned to start supplying clean water to the Lahugala residents by December 2021.
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One of Europe's biggest freshwater lakes. VÄTTERN BELOW THE SURFACE (Documentary 2020) Lake Vättern Below the Surface This documentary brings forth new perspective of Swedish water management. This film is an example of how water management can be risking human health and water quality, not only in Sweden but in countries worldwide. The problem is most of the countries in the western world does not have a functioning water management, nor do they have field personnel or fully employed environmental diving inspectors checking the ecosystem below the surface. Eurofins, a major company in Europe testing for different toxins and substances, can today only provide data on approximately 300 substances. From a average sewer plant there can be an outlet of some 10 000 to a 100 000 chemicals. We cannot see chemicals, but we can see the effects when we dive. What we see are dead ecosystems at the bottom of lakes with algal blooms containing toxic cyanobacteria as a result of chemical discharge. These cyanotoxins are today linked with human diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's and Parkinson, to name a few. The problem is we don't really know how many toxins there are in our drinking water, or in the food we eat. The film Lake Vättern Below the Surface documents this issue. The international community must begin to reevaluate how we are going to solve this problem. After you view this film some things to consider and discuss are the following topics below. These challenges we now see can easily be solved in a first stage. What is needed is to assess the level of toxic discharge there is in national water systems. We need to begin by digitizing all outlets and create an overview map of the difference in toxins found in the water systems. Then an overall plan can be tailormade made for the infrastructure in country and for the local communities. A common sense example is that placing heavy industrial complexes upstream freshwater lakes which are utilized for drinking water is not a good idea. Sweden has already solved the first stage and created a database showing the direction all water flow in the country, meaning the surface water and most of the groundwater. If a lorry with toxic cargo tips over we can follow the contamination downstream in the database and see how it affects the water system. What the country of Swedish has not realized is that we have laid the foundation for a much bigger database. Within this system we have the possibility to register the toxic discharge that is currently approved by the government. We can for example register into the database the estimated 6,000 covered dumping sites currently leaking toxic wastewater, as well as our thousands of sewer plants, industrial outlets, and the dumping locations of munition materials by Armed Forces. This can be done to provide an overview to assess the impact of the chemical outlets to our water systems. The governments have the necessary data to make this happen. This can be an effective tool to control and stop to sensitive ecosystems and keep our citizens and future generations safe. The next two steps involve diving and field personnel to survey the water systems and assess the state of ecosystems below the surface, in each country. Most important is to begin researching the methods for sampling the thousands of chemicals in our water. If we do not stop the dissemination of toxic chemicals today it could take years into the future before we solve what will become an even greater challenge to provide clean water, which is safe to drink. We need to know what our water contains to keep people, animals and the ecosystem out of harm's way. Water security will also be a major challenge for governments worldwide with the challenge of climate change. Green Cross Sweden, together with Green Cross international, are in talks with the water researchers behind this film to create a pilot studies in several countries that can address this issue or water management internationally on an global scale. Together we can change the world towards a sustainable future. - Andreas Vos Board Member, Green Cross Sweden
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