Prof. Emeritus. Ron Stoner in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA and Fulbright Professor in the Department of Physics, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (1980/81) conducted a seminar on “Providing Clean Drinking Water to North Central Province by Reverse Osmosis” on 22nd January 2018 at the Physics Lecture Hall.

His talk was based on a project he was involved in as a member of the Rotary Club of Bowling Green, to provide clean drinking water to 10 areas in North Central Sri Lanka where people were affected by the chronic kidney disease. He was in Sri Lanka to hand over 10 water purification units in collaboration with the Rotary Clubs of North West Ohio and Colombo. Following is an abstract of his talk.

An outbreak of chronic kidney disease in rice-growing areas around Anuradhapura and Polannaruwa has been attributed to consumption of ground water polluted by agricultural chemicals. An ongoing cooperative project by the Rotary Clubs of Colombo and eight Rotary Clubs in northwest Ohio, USA will build ten reverse-osmosis units, providing clean drinking water to ten affected communities.  Six units are already in operation. The genesis and details of the project will be discussed along with the science of reverse osmosis”.

Academic Members and undergraduates of the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Applied Sciences participated in the seminar and the discussion on this opportune topic.