Desalination plant commissioned at cost of over Rs
4 million
BRANDIX BRINGS WATER TO RESIDENTS OF RAJAPAKSHAPURA
 
The residents of Rajapakshapura in
Seeduwa, who have never in the
history of this little village
had pure drinking water, have had their
woes resolved by apparel giant Brandix Lanka. In keeping
with their outreach initiative “Water is Life”
to provide safe drinking water for those most in need, Brandix
commissioned a desalination plant for the people of Rajapakshapura
to provide potable water. Prior to this, this community
has had to pay between Rs 3000/- to 4000/- a month per
family to obtain water that is safe for drinking.
The desalination plant which was installed at a cost of over
Rs 4 million was commissioned in the presence of Hon Jeyaraj
Fernandopulle, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Consumer Affairs
and Highways who was the Chief Guest and the Directors of
Brandix Lanka.
 GAP,
Inc, one of the world’s largest specialty retailers
and the single largest apparel buyer out of Sri Lanka, is
partnering Brandix in this initiative.
Hon Minister, Mr Jeyraj Fernandopulle thanked Brandix and
GAP for “providing an innovative and permanent solution
to the water crisis in this community” and advised the
people of Rajapakshapura to use this precious resource responsibly.
According to the investigations conducted by the Water Resources
Board, the quality of water in Rajapakshapura was not suitable
for drinking due to the high content of calcium, iron, chloride
and sulphate in the water. Through this constructed plant
which includes four additional tanks and pumps, water is forced
across a membrane, leaving the impurities behind using reverse
osmosis considered the most economic process for desalination
of brackish water and seawater. Through this process, both
dissolved organics and salts present in water are removed.
Speaking at the occasion, Hilary Nath – Environmental
Engineer at Brandix Finishing explained “over 97.4%
of world’s water sources consist of sea water with 2.6%
frozen in snowcapped mountains or glaziers leaving only a
nominal 0.01% for drinking. According to World Bank
estimates this fast depleting resource will be the cause for
war and this will happen during our lifetime.”
“The use of desalination overcomes the paradox faced
by many coastal communities, that of having access to a practically
inexhaustible supply of saline water but having no way to
use it” added Nath. Although some substances dissolved
in water, such as calcium carbonate, can be removed by chemical
treatment, other common constituents, like sodium chloride,
require more technically sophisticated methods, collectively
known as desalination. In the past, the difficulty and expense
of removing various dissolved salts from water made saline
waters an impractical source of potable water. However, starting
in the 1950s, desalination began to appear to be economically
practical for ordinary use, under certain circumstances.
As a result of Brandix Lanka’s initiative, over 450
families residing in Rajapakshapura will now have access to
free, pure drinking water for the first time in the history
of this village. The average daily output would be around
7000 litres of water.
 At
Brandix, a central corporate theme directs the overall community
reach activities in a more focused approach to derive maximum
benefit to the communities they operate within. The theme,
‘Water is Life’ is a long term and ongoing commitment
focusing on increasing the availability of water and provision
of safe drinking water to those most in need. In addition
to construction of desalination units, many other initiatives
are undertaken within this unique theme such as establishment
of a Training Centre for Water Management & Conservation
and a centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management together
with the Water Resources Board, commissioning of tube wells
in drought affected areas etc. In the immediate aftermath
of the Tsunami, the Brandix/Water Resources Board Disaster
Mitigation and Management Centre, deployed teams to all six
districts and cleaned over 5000 wells.
“With both the incidence and severity of drought increasing
in frequency and scale, the lack of water has become a national
crisis” commented Feroz Omar-Director/Brandix Lanka.
“Brandix is committed to mitigate the situation through
a concerted effort in facilitating the provision of drinking
water to as many needy communities as possible” he added.
"This was a long outstanding requirement for the people
of this village. There are many other areas which are in need
of such projects. Efforts taken by Brandix in this regard
are highly valuable. Such proactive measures should be followed
in order to overcome water crisis in difficult areas of the
country" stated Mr Karunaratne - Chairman, Water Resources
Board commending Brandix’ efforts.
January 11, 2005 |
