Joint Analysis Workshop of the “Rainwater testing project – Ginnoruwa

Last week we had the final workshop of the “Rainwater testing project – Ginnoruwa” at Sorabora
Village Hotel, Mahiyangane with the participation of a group of villagers from Ginnoruwa. As
part of the work, we trained a group of villagers to test the quality of their drinking water
(rainwater) monthly for six months, while testing the chemical and microbial quality of the same
water from an accredited laboratory with the purpose of comparing both sets of results. The
project was conducted by Upul Wickramsinghe and Sithumini Mendis with organizing support
from Ginnoruwa Social Forum and funded by Australia Awards Small Grant Scheme.
Saranga Fonseka, a longtime friend of us and a Research Officer at Sri Lanka Scientific Service
at Medical Research Institute joined as the special resource person. His simple but concise
presentation on CKDu, drinking water, and rainwater harvesting was thoroughly enjoyed by the
village participants. Thank you very much, Saranga. Your contribution to enhancing the
scientific literacy of those people is highly commendable.
Sithumini gave a presentation covering the objective of the research, methodology, results and
findings with a comparison of citizens’ water testing results and laboratory results. We conclude
that rainwater is safe for drinking and could be a viable solution for the drinking water issue in
the dry zone of Sri Lanka, subjecting to proper maintenance conditions.
Well-deserved certificates acknowledged the participation and contribution of villagers in the
research. They also received a booklet which was published on the same day that summarises the
details and findings of the research. For what it is worth, we also launched a website for
Ginnoruwa Social Forum that covers all activities of the forum. More importantly, it will serve as
a platform to facilitate the continuation of rainwater testing in Ginnoruwa beyond the project
period. Anyone who is interested in knowing more details of the research may access them
through this website. Happiness is to find different ways to work with these people in Ginnoruwa
who were the backbone of my doctoral research and support their living struggles.
In line with the Gramscian notion, we believe that all men and women are philosophers, they
have the intellectual potential if they have proper social and material conditions. We are
determined to continue our social and scientific interventions with Ginnoruwa and other dry zone
communities and hope that it will contribute to improving their living standards in progressive
ways.
Upul Wickramasinghe