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THE PRESIDENCY - 4th Anniversary of the assumption of office President Mahinda Rajapaksa | www.dailynews.lk - Sri Lanka

IRRIGATION

Lifeblood of the country:

The irrigation industry controlled under the guidance of Minister Chamal Rajapaksa is one of the most important Ministries in Sri Lanka since irrigation is directly budded with agriculture.

Sri Lanka from time immemorial is attributed as an agro-based country. The development and the sustainability of the agriculture most probably depend on the irrigation works.

The Minister has in numerous occasions reiterated the importance of the prevalence of a strong network of irrigation system linking streams, rivers, brooks and all kinds of water resources, scattered throughout the country.

He also had maintained that the Ministry of Agriculture and the irrigation sector go hand in hand.

Although the controlling panel of streamlining the irrigation system is with the Ministry, the Irrigation Department is functioning as the chief arm of the Ministry functioning under the direction of the Minister.


Stream leading to Vavuniya tank

Udawalawe tank

The government has decided to renovate the neglected old tanks, anicuts and canals. Few identified locations in the eastern province.

For the last decades the Irrigation Department did not come to light and the general view was that the main function of the department is only the water management and building anicuts and renovating the dilapidated tanks. But realising the value of the Irrigation Department the Minister has taken a series of steps to regulate, renew the obsolete concepts to suit the present needs of the society, and to encourage the engineers who are an asset to the country.

“As a result the Department was able not only to rehabilitate the old tanks but also could think of building new tanks with the fullest co-operation of the engineers. The engineers who were confined to their daily routine work had shown enthusiasm to come forward with new ideas and concepts to develop the irrigation schemes in the country,” said Irrigation Department Director General H. P. S. Somasiri.

The Irrigation Department is forging ahead with new concepts while appreciating the highly reputed hydrological techniques adopted by the ancient kings to convert Sri Lanka, a land of agriculture.

In consequent a series of discussions held with efficient engineers, the department has decided to adopt trans basin diversion system as requirements arise, said Irrigation Department Director (R S and C) Dr. G. G. A. Godalidda.

A large number of dried or poorly fed anicuts or basins are scattered all over the country. And the Department had discovered places where water is in abundance. In such instances we divert the eccess water to the needy areas enabling the farmers to get sufficient water for agricultural purposes, Director said.

Citing an example Dr. Godalidda said that the Deduru Oya waters are flowing to the sea without using them for agricultural purpose. Now plans are afoot to build a reservoir at Deduru Oya and feed water to Inginimitiya tank which lacks water by cutting canal across Mee Oya and it is termed as trans basin canal.

The Kekiriobada new tank in which the work is in progress is also coming under trans basin irrigation system.

Another such scheme is Wemedilla reservoir in Matale District. Wemedilla across Welamitiya in Dewahoowa is also running short of water. The Department had built a reservoir called Wemedilla storing water replacing the existing Welamitiya Oya anicut and converted it to a reservoir feeding Dewahoowa scheme. This project has borne very satisfactory results since it was able to provide sufficient water to farmers.

Not only the farmers commenced cultivating both seasons Yala and Maha but also the scheme encouraged non farmers to enter cultivation profession, Dr. Godaliyadda said.

During the past four years the Irrigation Department was able to introduce very vital projects throughout the country which had born fruitful results,” said the Chief Engineer (Construction) D. Abeysiriwardane.

The Veheragala, Kekirioboda, Deduru Oya, Kirindi Oya, Manik Ganga, Wemedilla, Dewahoowa, Rambukkan Oya are few major projects undertaken by the Department. Veheragala, Kekiri Oboda are newly built tanks. During past decades no new tanks were built except attending to renovations.

Building new tanks is a massive task. It needs lot of expertise and needs a broad knowledge pertaining to hydraulic technology, Abeysiriwardane said.

Around the country 103 rivers or streams are releasing its precious waters to sea frivolously. The engineers scattered length and breadth of the country are doing their best to identify such river or streams and direct them to irrigable lands where water scarcity exists. This is a difficult task and needs massive field work. However under untold difficulties those engineers are in the process of dealing with the task, he said.

The Irrigation Department is slowly but steadily forging ahead and is becoming a very important institution earning recognition than ever.

This Department with over a century of experience as a pioneer organization responsible for most of the development works in the irrigation sector, looks optimistically towards the development envisage in the water sector as the dawn of the new millennium.

The mission of the Irrigation Department probably must have emerged from the vision of the great hydraulic civilization which existed from 500 BC to 1200 AD. Despite the fact that this vision might look very optimistic in today’s context, the mission of the Irrigation Department emerged with this broad objective in view. Therefore the Irrigation Department emerged as the principal government organization responsible for the regulation and control of inland waters.

Since its formation, its policy, administrative structure and emphasis changed from time to time to meet the requirements of the country. At present this mission is achieved through the implementation of a series of programs and projects which can be broadly classified under the following areas:

a. planning, designing construction and operation of infrastructure facilities required to harness the surface water for land development.

b. integrated natural resource management in major irrigation systems in order to increase productivity.c. assessment of water resources in river basins for river basin planning and development, inclusive of stream flow forecasting and warning.

d. increased beneficiary involvement through a joint system of management in major irrigation schemes.

e. providing drainage facilities to low lying coastal areas and prevention of flooding and salt water intrusion. In order to achieve the above objectives, the Irrigation Department has identified the following tasks. The establishment of the four sub-departments within the Irrigation Department in 1998 was done by keeping these objectives in mind.

The functions are defined as follows:

i. investigation, planning and design of infrastructural elements of water resources development for irrigation and flood control.

ii. construction of all major and minor reservoirs, diversion weirs and related structures for water delivery and agricultural development in the down stream areas.

iii. operation and management of all major irrigation schemes including the institutional strengthening in major systems.

iv. plan implementation, human resources development, training and monitoring activities.

Deduru Oya project:

The tank built across Deduru Oya will supply water to Mee Oya farmer community in Kurunegala and Puttalam districts to irrigate exceeding 27,000 acres of paddy lands. The capacity of the tank is 75 million Cubic meters.

The project also expects to produce 15 Mega Watts enhancing the electricity supply. In addition to providing water to farmers the project will also provide drinking water to Wayamba Province.

The projet is being completed under the direct supervision of the Irrigation Department and the department has given priority to use local resources and local expertise.

The project commenced in 2006 and is scheduled to complete in 2010.

No foreign funds are involved and the Government coffers are providing funds to a tune of Rs. 6,200 million and the fund allocation for the year 2009 is Rs. 425 million. The 15 km long left bank work is in progress and the survey activities are also in progress.

Nearly Rs. 260 m had been released as compensation for lands acquired and the Department is facing numerous problems when acquisitions are executed since the lands are with resources.

Rabmukkan Oya project:

The project is implemented in Mundeni Aru river region in Maha Oya Divisional District in Ampara District. The tank is being built across the Rambukkan Oya which bears a capacity of 45,000 acre feet.

When completed new paddy lands exceeding 3,500 acres could be irrigated, an Irrigation Department official said.

The main dam is 3,600 feet in length and the maximum height is 81 feet. The length of the maincanal is 4.75 kilometres and the left tributary is 17 kms.

Maha Oya is being identified as a difficult area in which poverty is engulfed. With the implementation of the project, the poverty alleviation exercise could be executed to a greater extent providing water to the satisfaction of the farmer community and could implement various other related enterprises in order to keep up the life standard of the poor, an official in charge of the project said.

The project commenced in 2007 and expected to complete in 2010.

The total cost is Rs. 2,500 millions. The earth filling of the dam, building the sluices and constructing the spill level walls are presently carried out.

Local resources and local expertise is utilised to complete the work in the project and the prime idea is to alleviate poverty the official said.

Weli Oya project:

The Weli Oya which is a tributary of the Walawe Ganga is located in Moneragala district.

Either side of the ganga nearly 50 minor tanks are existing but were dried. Most of such tanks were located at Thanamalvila in this district.

In comparison to other areas the villages in the Thanamalvila Divisional Secretariat are grossly under-developed and facing economical difficulties. Getting drinking water too was a severe problem. As a result of the requests made by the organisations and the community the Weli Oya project was implemented. With the completion of the projects the problems facing were successfully answered providing solutions.

This clearly is evident that the results of the Irrigation Department projects not only providing answers to water problems but the services of other categories are also seeped into the society relieving the burdens of the poor, the official said.

The construction of the tank was completed and Minister of Port, Aviation and Irrigation Chamal Rajapaksa ceremonially inaugurated the project in 2007. The Veheragala tank construction was completed and was opened by the President recently.

The communities in the villages around Tissamaharama were facing water scarcity difficulties for number of decades.

With the intention of eliminating those problems Lunugamvehera project was implemented in 1980. It was expected to irrigate 13,500 acres of paddy lands and to irrigate another 11,750 acres of lands which were fed by 50 minor tanks.

However due to various reasons the project could not meet the expected results due to the shortage of water in the Lunugamvehera main tank. The main supply tributary to the Lunugamvehera was Kirindi Oya but it proved futile due to the dried position of Kirindi Oya during a major part of the year.

The President and the Minister on various occasions discussed lengthily with the engineers and encouraged them to present a solution. As a result it was decided to build a dam across the Menik Ganga and to build a tank in Veheragala which was the most suitable location for the purpose.

The Menik Ganga water that flowed into the sea without using for an advantageous purpose was diverted to Lunugamvehera through a canal 23 kilometres in length from Veheragala.

This exercise became fruitful since Lunugamvehera gained life with abundant water which was available throughout the year. Within a couple of months Veheragala bore fruit. The project could provide drinking water to Kataragama pilgrims who throng during the festival season. During the past the devotees had to go in search of a location where water was sufficient to perform the water cutting rites. But last year the water restored in the Veheragla tank was released sufficiently and the water cutting rites could be performed right near the entrance bridge to Kataragama Devale. In addition drinking water to Kataragama town was sufficiently released facilitating to the pilgrim needs.

Vemedilla tank project:

The Vemedilla tank is located covering Naula, Dambulla, Galewela Pradeshiya Sabha Divisions in the Matale district.

The construction was completed and was opened this year.The tank is fed by the Welamityawa Oya which is tributary of Dambulu Oya.

The capacity of the tank is 4,488 acre feet and provides water for 1,900 acres of paddy lands through two sluices.

The tank had been constructed with the Japanese assistance and the total cost was Rs. 250 million.

Kekiri Oboda tank:

The new tank, Kekiri Oboda, is being constructed at Walasmulla PS Division in the Hambantota district. This tank is being built constructing dam across the Kekiriya Oya which is a tributary of Kirama Oya.

The initial estimate for the project is Rs. 273 millions.

When completed, 18 old canals existed will receive life with Kirama Oya waters and through this water could be provided to 3,800 acres. The other advantage the community will accrue is the flood protection. The excess water during rainy seasons will be systematically diverted through canals to Veheragala, an engineer said.

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