Settlements seeking WASH service improvements

The settlements of 45 families who have been working in the tea plantation area known as Homadola Estate located in Udugama, a small town in Galle, Sri Lanka are living in hill area since the generations. Homadola Estate is named after the Homadola stream that flows from the bottom of the hill.

Access to water has been the biggest challenge for those 45 families in the hill. Down at the bottom of the hill, there exists a small well from where they pump-up water using water pump. The amount of water they pump-up using the low-power water pump is not adequate for them. They need to rely on rainwater. They harvest rainwater in the baskets and barrels to fulfill their water need.

Apart from this issue related to water, the settlement is also blamed for polluting the Homadola stream as they are discharging the waste water and sewerage directly into the stream. They have been warned by the authority but the situation has been improved.

During the spreading of coronavirus, some numbers of families in the settlements were tested positive and were stayed in quarantine. Fetching water at that time was not possible for them. The local authority has provided water service for short period of time.

Due to the lack of accountability of the local authority and the lack of WASH awareness of the settlement dwellers, the families living in the settlements are being deprived from the healthy WASH services. It seems that the settlement is highly neglected for their WASH rights.

Improvement of the existing small well into water supply scheme could be one of the appropriate ways for the immediate improved access to water for the settlements. In addition to this, search for new water source is deemed necessary as there is the possibility of landslips in the area.