බටහිර දකුණ

In line with one of the primary national objectives in the expansion of sustainable drinking water facilities for the nation, a decision was taken to establish the Western Province Regional Support Centre in 1992. Consequently it was decided to decentralize the operation of the Western Province into three functional areas. As a result, the Regional Support Centre (Western-South) was established in 2008. The primary objective of RSC (WS) is to provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities to the community. Further, provision of safe drinking water to each household leads to improve the health and hygiene of the community.

The geographical areas covered under RSC ( WS ) are Dehiwala, Moratuwa & Ratmalana DS divisions and some parts of Homagama DS Division in the Colombo District, all DS divisions in the Kalutara district and a part of Bentota DS division in the Galle district. This region lies in the wet zone where the annual rainfall varies from 2500 – 3000mm and the annual average temperature varies between 22ºC to 35ºC throughout the year. Area covered by this region is 2250 square km with a population of 1.7 Million as per the 2012 Census Data. This Region has undergone many changes with human influence for a long period resulting in the conversion of natural habitats to man-made form of land use.

Western South Regional Support Centre is headed by a Deputy General Manager assisted by an Assistant General Manager. The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) activities within the RSC (WS) are divided into three regions namely Dehiwala, Panadura/Horana and Kalutara, where each region is headed by a Regional O&M Manager. Total staff within the Western South region is about 669 as at March 2022. Their dedication to work has helped Regional Support Centre (Western-South) to achieve National Productivity Awards (Service Sector – Medium Scale) for years 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019.

The RSC (WS) provides safe pipe-borne drinking water to people via 299,237 service connections as at March 2022. In addition to this, 137 existing and 35 recently established Community Based Rural Water Supply Schemes (CBOs) of the region contribute 4.5 % of safe pipe-born water supply. Rural Water Supply Sections of Kalutara Manager Office provides close monitoring, capacity development and technical guidance as well as functioning facilities for those CBOs.

There are many medium and large scale water supply projects and transmission improvements which are ongoing at present. Further, many feasibility studies are in place and in progress for improvement to meet the future demand for pipe born water.

A well-functioning clustered laboratory system ( Dehiwala-Panadura and Kaluthra Laboratories ) is in the region enabling Chemical and Bacteriological testing in accordance with updated SLS standards. Dehiwala-Panadura Laboratory obtained ISO/IEC 17025 Laboratory Accreditation certification in 2019, this is the first Laboratory in the NWSDB which was accredited for Biological testing and recognized as one of the competency laboratories in Sri Lanka for potable water testing.

This contributes to reduction of incidents of water borne diseases, benefiting the population by upgrading their livelihood resulting in time and money saved, as well as the benefits to the environment due to reduced water pollution.

Assuring the use of the latest technologies to support the operation benefitting the customers thereby, modern Information and Communication Technology is applied as most effective tools in improving the operational efficiency, quality of service and productivity of the organization. Various steps to enhance the IT Infrastructure and Solutions to suit the needs of the organization have been taken, keeping pace with the latest trends in the industry. Some of these activities include On-line Bill Payment facility, Smart Zone for 24 hour service facilities, On-line Customer Grievance Handling Applications, use of Mobile App for Meter Reading, Drive-thru Bill Payment facility etc.