Clean Water for Gederawewa

Rural Gederawewa is a deprived village in the Nawagattegama DS division. It is located in the Puttalam District. Gederawewa is home to more than 165 families. The residents are mainly farmers or daily wage labourers. Others ply their trade in the service industry or in nearby factories.

The Gederawewa community is located about 130 km from Colombo, the capital city, in Sri Lanka's “dry zone". The area is characterised by frequent drought. Average annual temperatures range from 28℃ to 34℃. These dry conditions make life very difficult for community members, nearly all of whom live off the land and grow crops that rely on rainfall. Some farmers have access to irrigation for their crops but many do not.

There is not enough water to meet basic family and farming needs, even for those with access to irrigation. Almost 90% of families lack a safe water supply and only 27% have latrines. This means that children's health is at risk from waterborne and hygiene-related diseases, such as diarrhoea. The villagers are especially prone to kidney disease due to water that is contaminated with pesticides, calcium deposits and harmful bacteria. They either have to consume the resulting hard contaminated water or purchase drinking water at a huge cost.

Gammadda in partnership with Next Manufacturing (Pvt) Ltd commenced work on a clean drinking water supply project on (12/5/2023) to provide the residents of Gederawewa relief from their water woes.

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