Weheragala making big waves

Irangika RANGE

WATER: The major phases of the Weheragala reservoir project, one of the largest water development projects of recent times, will be completed by the end of this year, providing sustainable solutions to problems such as, lack of water for agriculture and for the drinking needs of people of the Southern and Uva provinces.

The estimated cost for the project is Rs.1822 million. Under this project, it has utilised only local technical knowledge and resources. The Irrigation Department handles the project utilising skills of its engineers and local scientists.

It has enabled them to save foreign exchange.

With the implementation of the Weheragala water reservoir development project, would alleviate numerous water-related difficulties faced during the dry season.

Although labour requirements have been fulfilled in the Hambantota district, the major problem of the area is the shortage of water for agriculture.

Responding to the farmers' request in these areas, Minister of Agricultural Development Chamal Rajapakse has instructed officials to provide solutions to farmers in Lunugamvehera, Tissamaharama and Kataragama.

It also benefits agricultural systems such as Gal Amuna and Kirindi Oya, providing a reliable water supply for farmers in the area.

It has also planned to increase the cropping intensity of Lunugamvehera scheme of about 5300 hectares. This will benefit about 5000 farmer families through receipt of a reliable supply of water.

Gal Amuna Project's Resident Engineer L.S. Suriyabandara said it will also fulfill the requirement of drinking water needs of the people in areas such as Kataragama, Lunugamvehera and Thanamalwila.

The important feature of the project which is include the sustainable environmental conservation and provision of water for wild animals in the Lunugamvehera National Park.

An open space for the elephants and five other ponds for other wild animals will be constructed.

He said it is planned to improve Kohombagas Digana, Kukul Katuwa, Akkarawissa and Goyagala Tanks, Karawila Tank, Mailagama tank, Gestupana Tank and associated irrigation systems.

Forty five kilometers of road network within the Lunugamwehera Park will be improved under the project and this will improve the accessibility to remote parts of the park for tourists and wildlife officers for better supervision.

In addition, new pasturelands will be identified away from the park area and shall be developed for the cattle, which presently use areas for grazing.

Farmers, who cultivate unauthorised lands under the Salmallpelessa tank in the Yala Park and Lunugamwehera reservoir bed area will be given alternative lands with irrigation facilities under the Kirindi Oya Irrigation and Settlement Project (KOISP) or elsewhere in the region.

The Menik Ganga starts from Passara and carries water for 112km before meeting the sea, but only a small portion of this water is utilised.

The significant feature of this interaction is that a considerable portion of the 279 MCM of water that flowed to the sea is systematically made use of.

The project plans to construct a 2030-meter long dam across Menik ganga to create a reservoir of 75MCM capacity, and divert its water to the Kirindi-Oya basin through a canal.

In the process, the Kirindi-Oya reservoir will receive about 60 MCM annually benefiting water stressed people in its command area.

He said that 75 percent of excavation and foundation of the project has been completed while the filling process has also been completed by 30 percent.

President of the Joint Farmer Association of Kirindi Oya , Siripala Jayaweera said with implementation of this project would benefit over 15000 farmer families and their paddy, maize, green grams and banana cultivation in the Lunugamvehara area.