As a permanent solution to the drinking water problem faced by the people in the North for many years, a project to obtain potable water from seawater is scheduled to be opened today by Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Minister of Water Supply, Vasudeva Nanayakkara said, “Our fellow people living in the North have been facing severe hardships for years due to the lack of proper drinking water. Since previous methods which were planned and implemented for this purpose were not succeeded, with the intention of providing a relief to the people in the North even by incurring a huge cost, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board has taken steps to commence this massive project, the Jaffna-Kilinochchi Water Supply Project”.

The Minister pointed out that the drinking water problem of the Jaffna Peninsula will be solved by more than 50% and this will benefit about 300,000 families only in the first phase.

Under the initial phase of this project, schemes are being implemented as Nagadeepa Seawater Treatment Plant, Thalaiyadi Seawater Treatment Plant and Jaffna Town Distribution System.

The Nagadeepa Drinking Water Treatment Plant will provide safe drinking water through pipelines to 6,000 beneficiaries belonging to 1500 households in the Nagadeepa, Iluvativu and Analathivu islands. The cost for this is Rs. 187 million. The second phase of this project that is, laying of 25 Kilometer length pipeline system for transmitting water to the islands of Nagadeepa, Iluwathivu and Analathivu from the Nagadeepa Treatment System, will also commence parallel. The estimated cost for this is Rs. 34 million.

Thalaiyadi Seawater Treatment Plant which is being constructed at a huge cost of about Rs. 19,000 million is the largest scheme under this project. By this, arrangements will be made to provide safe drinking water facilities through pipelines to a population of about 60,000 living in 12,000 households. Thalaiyadi Water Purification System will also be constructed parallel to this which provides pipe borne water for the Jaffna City Limits and suburbs and the cost of the project is Rs. 3,160 million. It has been able to provide safe piped water facilities to a population of about 60,000 people belonging to 28,000 families. The length of this system is 271 kilometers.

This Project is being carried out by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board of the Ministry of water Supply under the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank and the Government of Sri Lanka.