Constructed in 18 months, the Tangalle Water Supply Scheme is a collaboration of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the provision of a sustainable supply of safe drinking water to tsunami affected families. The Tangalle project will see the supply of water swell from a current 2500 cubic metres per day to 9000 cubic metres.

The project, funded by UNICEF, will play a critical role in safe guarding the health of the region’s children, greatly contributing to the reduction of the incidences of diarrhoea, hepatitis and other water related disease, while ensuring that local residents, especially women and children, don’t spend hours each day fetching water.

“We have been able to upgrade the Tangalle Water Supply scheme that would solve the problem of drinking water of the local population in the area. The Scheme would initially provide water to 7000 families and at the conclusion of the scheme, more than 20,000 families would be supplied with safe drinking water,” President said.

According to a UNICEF press release, water-borne disease cause almost 5000 deaths every day globally, of which 83% are children under five. More than one billion people lack access to safe water.

“Today, through a tremendous collective effort between Government and UNICEF, we give hope and health to so many women and children who would otherwise trudge great distances to fetch water, and to the children who will no longer suffer from water-related diseases,” UNICEF’s Representative in Sri Lanka, Philippe Duamelle said.

Although periodically upgraded, Tangalle’s original water supply system (built 55 years ago) has not been able to meet the requirements of the growing population. The lack of fresh water resources along the coastal belt has for many years been a major constraint in providing drinking water to the people of the area, and this was exacerbated by the resettlement of so many people after the Tsunami. Importantly the new Tangalle Scheme has been built with an eye firmly on the future. It has the capacity to provide for 57,000 people in 2015.
The main components of the new project include:

• The laying of 42 kilometres of pipeline for transmission and distribution
• The rehabilitation of existing treatment plants and construction of a new Treatment Plant at Nalagama
• Ensuring the extension of the existing water supply to Nalagama, Palapotha, Beliatta and Hathbodiya areas
• Construction of four new reservoirs at Palapotha, Hathbodiya, Nalagama, Tangalle town and Beliatta