A preliminary discussion was held at the Vavuniya DGM office between Dr. A. Atputharajah and the DGM North – National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Eng. Umar on 17th May. There a meeting was planned between staff, other experts with the DGM. Finally that meeting was organized on 2nd June 2016 at the Faculty of Engineering in Kilinochchi. This meeting was attended by Dr. S. Balakumar from the Faculty of Medicine, Prof. (Mrs.) T. Mikunthan from the Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. S.S. Sivakumar and Dr. A. Atputharajah from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Jaffna. Further Eng. Umar DGM North, Eng R. Sasitharan and Mr. Saravanan from the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB).
A preliminary discussion was held at the Vavuniya DGM office between Dr. A. Atputharajah and the DGM North – National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Eng. Umar on 17th May. There a meeting was planned between staff, other experts with the DGM. Finally that meeting was organized on 2nd June 2016 at the Faculty of Engineering in Kilinochchi. This meeting was attended by Dr. S. Balakumar from the Faculty of Medicine, Prof. (Mrs.) T. Mikunthan from the Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. S.S. Sivakumar and Dr. A. Atputharajah from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Jaffna. Further Eng. Umar DGM North, Eng R. Sasitharan and Mr. Saravanan from the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB).
So many research initiatives were discussed. It was excellent discussion started from 3:30pm and ended at 5:00pm. Few activities were discussed to take it forward, they are: (1) It was planned to submit NRC proposal for about 50 million research grant on CKDu issues. (2) It was discussed the possibility of purchasing the water quality testing equipment through the ongoing WaterH Norway funded program at the Faculty of Engineering. (3) Water board agreed to take UOJ students for industrial training. (4) Strong collaboration need to be done. It was stressed to sign an MOU, which will allows many benefits for both parties such as information sharing, testing done, industrial training, research collaboration, conducting short courses, etc.. (5) To get the water board supply to the Kilinochchi premises, DGM inform that there is a shortage of portion to be completed due to high head requirement. It is expected to be completed during 2017. (6) Testing center at the Kilinochchi premises of the University of Jaffna. It was discussed to prepare a comprehensive proposal on this Testing Center covering up all important tests to be done.
