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Tuesday, 24 July 2012

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Illegal sand mining:

Severe environmental problem at Deduru Oya

The indiscriminate extraction of sand from Deduru-Oya is posing a severe environmental problem.

Originating from Moronkanda in Matale, Deduru-Oya flows down 139 kilometres to end up in the sea at Chilaw.

Its main characteristics, shallowness, frequency in instant overflowing of its banks and the capacity to rapidly spill into the sea, are legendary.

As Deduru-Oya overflows frequently as it is partly dry in between, it has become a convenient resort to earn quick money by extracting sand. Entering into its bed at Chilaw, one has to go upstream only 6-7 kilometres to count 15 to 20 spots from where sand is being mined on large scale. Deduru Oya has its unique features which attract this practice compared with other streams or rivers in the region where sand is mostly mined by divers, several feet deep in water. Along the Deduru-Oya tractors or other tipping vehicles can enter its bed direct and load sand into them.

The shallowness and the sloping banks stand a blessing in this exercise. Ma-Oya situated several kilometres to the south of Deduru Oya was also once a lucrative trade centre extracting and selling sand. But when environmentally conscious authorities took up the issue and strictly regulated the extraction, the public living close to the river along either banks heaved a sigh of relief. At the same time, attention was shifted to Deduru-Oya where we find an influx of transport vehicles carrying sand.

These vehicles transporting sand, damage the roads which require frequent repairs at heavy expenditure. Until such time they are repaired, these roads remain full of potholes.

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