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Wastewater management:Tackling pollution while providing sanitation  

27 Nov 2021

By Uwin Lugoda A World Heritage Site and Sri Lanka’s old capital, Kandy recently received a new wastewater management system, aimed at tackling pollution and providing sanitation for its locals and visitors. According to a media release by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, the launch of the new facility took place on 17 November, with the presence of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The city is a hotspot for many tourists, both international and domestic, and as such, accumulates a large amount of pollution, which the previous sewerage system could not handle. Therefore, the wastewater management system was a long-pending requirement, the Ministry said. “As a World Heritage Site and the second largest city of Sri Lanka, Kandy is famous for its beauty. However, behind the city’s beauty, pollution was running rampant, with canals and rivers within the city being impacted the most. Kandy didn’t have a modern sewerage system except for the onsite sanitation solutions, and the rate of deteriorating quality of water in rivers and the lake has increased with the increase of population,” said a ministry official, speaking to The Sunday Morning. The official stated that in order to address this, a new wastewater management system was proposed by the Government. “We know that wastewater is being discharged illegally even to the Mahaweli River. Not only that, but many places have also been severely affected by wastewater. Recognising this situation, the ‘Wastewater Management’ project will provide significant assistance to protect the historic Kandy Lake as well as to the Kandy-centric tourism industry,” Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had said, speaking at the occasion. The project is set to benefit over 300,000 people, which includes both the residents in Kandy and daily migrants. The newly installed sewerage treatment plant is expected to improve the water quality of the Mahaweli River, one of the major water sources in the country. Improvement of its water quality in the upper stream will have a positive impact on downstream areas. Moreover, the project will also provide improved sanitation in densely populated and low-income areas in Kandy by installing an in-house sanitation facility and refurbishing public facilities. The introduction of improved sanitation facilities will improve the community’s sanitary environment and, in turn, improve the residents’ health conditions. The project was implemented by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board with concessional financing assistance from Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA). The Ministry stated that the new technology installed in the project is state-of-the-art, has a capacity of 14,000m3/day, and utilises the “propeller-type oxidation ditch (OD) system”, which enables the efficient treatment of sewage through the high mixture with oxygen promoted by submersible propellers and air diffusers in the aeration tank. Furthermore, a Japanese company, JFE Engineering Corporation, constructed the plant with this superior technology to help reduce plant operation costs that are eventually borne by the public. During the launch, JICA Sri Lanka Chief Representative Yamada Tetsuya stated that JICA has continuously supported the Sri Lankan Government in the management of its sewage problem systematically. The company also played a major role in aiding Sri Lanka’s sewage sector in 2017, by preparing a strategic master plan for the sector. Speaking on the plans to implement more water management systems around the country, the premier said: “Currently we have water management systems only in Municipal Council areas such as Colombo, Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, and in cities like Ja-Ela, Ekala and Kurunegala. We have planned to build water management systems in every major city in the country, which is now limited to only a few areas.”  


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