Two Reverse Osmosis plants declared open for community use
 

Acting upon the directives of Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, the Sri Lanka Navy has been implementing a number of community service programmes focusing on the wellbeing of the civilian population. As part of that initiative, two Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants installed at Bodhimaluwa Rajamaha Viharaya, Kekirawa and Galbokka Primary School, Mahiyanganaya were declared open for community use recently.

The new facilitiy at  Bodhimaluwa Rajamaha Viharaya is capable of providing safe drinking water for 5 monks and 75 Sunday School students of the temple and 350 families in the area. The financial support for the facility was made by the Ministry of Buddhasasana, while its construction was undertaken by Sri Lanka Navy’s Research and Development Unit. Similarly, the RO system at Galbokka Primary School can produce safe drinking water for 50 school children, 6 staff members and another 1150 families residing in the area. That facility was set up utilizing the generous monetary contribution made by the Presidential Task Force on Prevention of Kidney Disease. The compartment where the facility is houses was constructed by the Naval Civil Engineers. The project was carried out under close supervision of the Commander South Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Sumith Weerasinghe.

Realizing the grave need for having more Reverse Osmosis plants in areas which are prone to Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, Sri Lanka Navy’s Research and Development Unit is very much instrumental in developing more RO systems for the use of needy people. Further, they have been extremely influential in producing these RO systems utilizing their expertise and technological know-how and have successfully installed a total of 133 RO facilities across the country to date, facilitating over 57,606 families and 45,225 school children with safe drinking water provided free of charge. Moreover, the Navy is determined to continue this noble effort in the future as well.