Vasu seeks UNICEF help to provide clean water to children

Water Supply and Drainage Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara says he has sought UNICEF assistance to provide Sri Lankan children with clean drinking water. The Minister made this request when the newly-appointed Country Representative of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to Sri Lanka Christian Skoog met him last week.

The Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage has in a release said that the discussion between the UNICEF representative and the Minister focused on children and their water needs.

Recent statistics show that children in many parts of the world are exposed to various diseases due to lack of access to safe drinking water.

Minister Nanayakkara pointed out that such a situation prevailed in some parts of Sri Lanka and that the Water Supply and Drainage Board and the Department of National Community Water Supply had already implemented a number of special programmes to address the issue.

Minister Nanayakkara said that Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purification systems had already been installed in areas where such diseases are prevalent and that facility would be made available in other areas as well.

UNICEF Sri Lanka Representative Christian Krug said that UNICEF would provide all possible assistance to conduct a countrywide survey on water quality, develop databases on the nature of groundwater to improve the quality of drinking water especially in schools.