The United States inaugurated today a clean water assistance program for at-risk communities in the Batticaloa district.  Government Agent for Batticaloa Ms. P.S.M. Charles also attended the ceremony.

Many local residents still face significant challenges brought by intense flooding in the past few years, requiring long-term solutions to ensure stable, clean water and sanitation access.

“Batticaloa is one of the most disaster-prone districts in Sri Lanka, so many people here are unable to ever recover from poverty since their livelihoods are so dependent on weather,” said Ms. Charles. “We welcome USAID's long-term support in disaster response and risk mitigation.”

Due the increasing frequency of floods, an important goal of this project is to strengthen water and sanitation infrastructures to help reduce the risks from future natural disasters.  Working through the PALM Foundation, the LKR 13 million ($100,000) project will provide clean drinking water, better sanitation facilities, education on good hygiene practices and livelihoods assistance.

“This initiative is going to enhance villages’ resilience to cycles of drought and floods in this part of the country,” said Pui Man Wong from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  “We look forward to working with local communities and local government to ensure access to clean water and maintenance to these facilities.”

This project is funded through USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and complements an earlier LKR 63 million ($487,735) USAID grant that provided 2,762 water connections and constructed 40 wells and 420 toilets from 2012-2014 in Batticaloa.