We continue our look at clean water stories from Sri Lanka, as part of our WASH program (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) series. This story comes P.G Kalyani, a 38-year old woman in Magalthota. She has two sons and a daughter who are still schooling. Her husband is a mason. Villagers in this area are suffering immensely due to non-availability of water. Water is collected from very far away places. 

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"My water is now clean"

We cannot obtain water from neighbors because the quality of water in the wells located in the area is not suitable for drinking as it is often saline and gives a different taste. Therefore water has been a burning issue for the entire village for years.

I have a well in my garden, but it can only be used for domestic purposes. For bathing and washing, we have to go to an outlying well. The well runs dry in dry seasons. It's a felt need to find out a solution for the purification of water as we drink contaminated water. The villagers in the area are often sick without a particular reason. Later it was found out by the Public Health Inspector (PHI) in the area that it was due to drinking contaminated water. As I said earlier, water is collected from distant places in containers which have been used for years. This is a common scene in the village. No persons or organizations paid attention towards this problem.

One day, the PHI in the area came to our house and told me that he is doing a survey to find out beneficiaries for biosand filters. Biosand filters are new to our community. Thirty villagers, including me, were selected as beneficiaries for these filters. We were taught how to use  the filters by the PHI and by Malteser International, who funded the filters. After training, we built filters as per the instruction given by the PHI.

There are several ways of purifying water. I know only a few of them. But none of them were used by me to purify water before the introduction of biosand filters. When water is boiled, my children hesitate to drink it saying that boiled water doesn't quench thirst. This biosand filter is being used to purify water. There is no any change in the taste of water after the purification and in addition water becomes cold.

Several water testing were done and we were told that the purified water is free from bacteriological contamination. Malteser International often visit our houses to help us maintain the filter. Maintenance of the filter is very simple.

I am very happy to say that this filter is very useful to us and I feel there's an improvement in our health as we are free from diseases such as diarrhea. Now, we drink purified water. We can understand that unpurified water can make us ill. I take this opportunity to thank Maltser for giving us a very useful water filter.

Author: Muditha Menu Mataraarachchi  Malteser International, WASH Office, Galle.