More than 98 per cent of the construction work on the Jaffna-Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project are complete with the rest of the work expected to be completed shortly, Project Director, S Malathi told The Daily Morning yesterday (2).

The project is expected to provide safe pipe-borne pure drinking water for 300,000 households or residents living across 194 Grama Niladhari Divisions in these Districts. “Taking underground water contamination issues in the region into consideration, the local residents are being distributed with pure drinking water before the launch, following the opening of the water treatment plant in 2024”. Malathi also pointed out that, even though it had already been planned to obtain water for the Project from the Iranamadu Tank, following opposition from farmers stating that they will suffer from the shortage of water for agriculture, it was later decided to purify sea water to distribute drinking water to the public via the desalination plant. “The Project, which is an Asian Development Bank loan project, aims to provide improved sanitation facilities to 80,000 families in both the Districts. Following the feasibility studies carried out in 2005-2006, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, the Agriculture Ministry and the Northern and Eastern Provincial Councils”. Malathi added that the rehabilitation and augmentation of the capacity of the Iranamadu Tank, the construction of 20 elevated water tanks, the supplying and laying of 184 kilometres (km) of transmission pipe lines, 682 km of distribution pipe lines and mechanical and electrical work are already over. Currently, the drinking water supply takes place with regard to the Karaveddi, Puttur, Mesalai, Navatkuly, the Jaffna City, Karinagar, Kattudai, Vaddukodai, Velanai, Mandaithivu, Kayts and Punguduthivu areas within the Project limits, she added.