Although it is a small club with around 40 members, the Colleyville Rotary Club is positively impacting thousands of lives around the world by providing access to clean drinking water.

During a visit to Sri Lanka in 2022, Colleyville Rotarian Keith Athulathmudali became aware that rural villages in the Northeast region of the island did not have access to clean water and were suffering a myriad of serious and often fatal health issues as a result.

“Here in the Dallas metroplex, we take clean water as God-given, right,” Athulathmudali said. “We open the tap, and we don't think twice. We just take a glass of water and drink knowing that it is going through a very extensive testing process, and it's approved for human consumption, but around the world it's not. There are thousands of people dying every year because of not having access to clean water.”

Individuals who live in rural areas get their water from wells. However, due the use of pesticides in agriculture and the lack of a filtration system, the well water becomes contaminated.

“Many people in the Northeast part of the island either have serious liver or kidney diseases or cancer, so their life expectancy is less than 60 years,” Athulathmudali said. “I thought to myself, ‘That's an area where we could certainly make a difference in someone's life.’”

Athulathmudali in collaboration with Sri Lanka Colombo West Rotary club members and Grapevine Rotary club wrote and was awarded a grant from the Rotary Foundation Global Grant to install five reverse osmosis wells, which would provide clean water for 10,000 people. With financial partnership with Grapevine Rotary Club and Albuquerque Del Norte Rotary Club the five wells were installed last year. Local leaders were trained to operate and maintain the wells, which are designed to American standards to last 20 years.

In addition to providing clean drinking water, Athulathmudali said the rotary clubs created a small business model to ensure the sustainability of the clean water project. They selected one person from each village to sell purified water at a very low cost to the villagers. This not only provides income for the individual but also ensures the maintenance of the water plant. Additionally, a village leader is assigned to oversee the plant's operations and prevent vandalism.

After seeing the positive impact of this project, Athulathmudali is now working to bring clean drinking water to West Bengal, India, where groundwater is contaminated with arsenic, fluoride and toxic levels of salinity in the coastal areas.

Athulathmudali wrote and is awaiting approval from Rotary Foundation Global Grant Committee for funding . He has also secured partnerships with the Southlake Rotary Club, Grapevine Rotary Club as well as rotary clubs in India to provide additional funding. Tata Chemical India will provide 21 ultra hollow filtration systems to be spread across 200 miles and located in schools and community gathering centers. The wells will

provide clean drinking water to over 55,000 people. This project is expected to be completed in June of 2025.

“We are small, but a mighty club,” Athulathmudali said.

Local individuals have multiple opportunities to join the Colleyville Rotary Club’s effort to make sure everyone has access to clean water. All of the money raised from the Colleyville Rotary Club’s annual Dancing for the Stars event funds local charities and global projects like these. This event will be Feb. 22, 2025, at the Hurst Conference Center.

Individuals can also donate directly to this project with a check or Zelle donation.

To learn more about the Colleyville Rotary Club, visit the organization’s website.

The above story was produced by Multi Platform Journalist Mary Katherine Shapiro with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.