RADDOLUGAMA WATER TREATMENT PLANT...IT IS NOT AS EASY AS OPENING THE TAP........

Eranthaka malewana 

3rd post

02/09/2012

"We are going to raddolugama water plant tommorrow.and be at the university by 6.45 am..."Told our leader on Monday evening.....ok it s easy to say but .........Any way i was there just on time on the day following...For a change we are going bit far this time.It was a trip of nearly an hour..So why not enjoy?We did with all the songs and  things.........

Then we finally got down at Raddolugama about which i had no idea of.........We were given a brief introduction about Raddolugama housing project and the water treatment plant and sewerage system..To be honest i couldn't understand the difference at once but as we went on to see the place everything become crystal clear......(And 2 new things I learned new just before visiting the water plant-raddolugama is the largest housing project in sri lanka and one of my colleagues of the clinical group originally lives here!!)

1st we visited  water treatment plant.The office who came with us described it step by step.the water treatment plant was composed of 6 steps.they were,  
    

         01)Pump from the river

         02)Aeriation

             03) sedimentation     

             04) Filtering

              05)storage

              06) chlorination

   

        A branch of aththanagalu oya called dandugan oya was the sourse of the water.From there water is pumped to 2 large wells near by and then to the water plant.In areation water is mixes with oxygen causing breakdown of harmful particles.Aluminium sulphate is added so negatively charged mud particles are removed.We saw the sedimentation tank where water flows slowly through parallel plates.then the water is filtered and filtered water is added with chlorine gas.(  Until 1 mg/dl concentration is reached.)

      

        wow what a procedure it is.i determined that here after i would use water sparingly.It is not as easy as opening the tap...really is........

       This water is checked once in every 2 weeks using biological oxygen demand,chemical oxygen demand as well the bacterial content.So to make sure that the people are safe.....

      Then the sewage system.The sewage and kitchen water from the houses are treated here and released to the down side of the same river.It also is consist of 6 steps.

       

       01)    Collection

       02)   Large particle separation

       03)   Aeration

       04)   Sedimentation

       05)   Chlorination

       06)Release

      oho....That was amazing too...who would have thought that those water can be added to a river in such a safe method..

     WE had a great experience walking around in both places though it was a sunny day...

     

     At the end of the day it was another new experience for us again...I am relly loving this community medicine appointment ...for sure....