A community project run by local clothing manufacturer Brandix and Deutsche Bank has provided more than 2,000 families in Sri Lanka with filters to purify drinking water. The families were chosen because they were at high risk of contracting water-related diseases.

The project, part of the Community Water Supply & Sanitation Project (CWSSP) of the Ministry of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development, distributed 2,000 filters to vulnerable households in the Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts and trained the recipients to use and maintain them.

Research has linked contaminated drinking water to high levels of dental fluorosis, chronic renal failure and other medical problems in Sri Lanka's North Central Province. The filters are designed to remove pathogens and harmful minerals such as fluoride from their drinking water.

Brandix has financed a Water Research and Training Centre at Anuradhapura to help address this problem and is running an initiative known as 'Water is Life - Care for Our Own', which is the spearhead of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

Related news: Household treatment: low-tech clay filters save on fuel costs and cut disease, Source South Asia, 20 Aug 2008

Web site:CWSSP; Brandix - Water is Life

Source: Brandix, 08 Dec 2008

Tags: south asia, water quality, water treatment, water-related diseases