We headed out at 6 am to Girandurukotte that lies between the lowlands and middle-lands of the dry zone.
This site was chosen due to the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown etiology (CKDU). The rice fields boast of bright green from richly nitrogen fertilized soils. The crops in the images below are two weeks old and will reach about half a meter when ripe in about 2.5 months from now. Each stalk yields roughly 200 grains of rice.
The dry zone is called so not because of the complete lack of precipitation (in fact it averages 1.7 m per year), but because of the erratic distribution, receiving all its rain during the winter monsoon between September and December.
Our task today was to mount an air sampler that will be hosted by the Girandurukotte Medical Center and will collect airborne agricultural chemicals over a one year sampling period. We then placed our water samplers into the reservoir that feeds the fields, a shallow well to test drinking water concentrations and in two rice paddy fields: one that had low pesticide use and a second that had high use. The samplers will be collected monthly to generate a seasonal time series.
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| The route took us through the central mountain region and down several turns to get to the lowlands and Girandurukotte. |
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| Our first stop was at the regional hospital to meet with local physician Dr. Nishantha and discuss our sampling. |
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| The field team from left to right, doctoral candidate Thivanka, Prof. Mapa, Prof.Rohana Chandrajith, undergraduate students Shamalee and Sudeera |
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| Rohana, me, Dr. Nishantha |
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| Dr.Nishantha, Sudeera and Shamalee |
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| Rohana attaches the air sampling casing. |
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| Air sampling time series set to go at 370 ft elevation and 7'28'11'N 81'1'8 E. |
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| porewater sampler |
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| water column sampler |
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| Water reservoir at 310 ft elevation, 7'28'02' N 81'0'10'E. |
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Rice Paddy field at 300 ft elevation, 7'25'59' N, 81'0'18'E.
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