Eight resevoirs dry up in Hambantota district

Hambantota has felt the most severe effects of the drought thus far. The drought has been powerful enough to dry up eight of the major reservoirs in the district. 

The Hambantota district consists of eight reservoirs and eleven irrigation schemes. However, as the crisis reveals, these have not been sufficient to salvage the people of the south from distress. 

The drought obviously resulted from the lack of rainfall. But as Deputy Director of Irrigation Management of the Department of Irrigation H.M. Jayatillake indicates, it is the lack of rainfall throughout the island that is making the situation worse. He said, “It’s basically due to the low rainfall within the district and the low rainfall in the upper catchments.” 

Three of the eleven irrigation schemes in Hambantota are anicuts or diversion schemes. Due to the recent variations in the weather patterns, reservoirs in all parts of the island are at dangerously low levels. Reservoirs in the Hambantota district itself have obviously dried up. But the diversion schemes, which are fed by reservoirs in other parts of the island, cannot be relied upon either due to the low water levels. 

Jayatillake said, “Most of the small reservoirs have no water at all. That is why most of the people are suffering because they don’t have water for domestic purposes.”

One of the obvious questions that come to mind is why more irrigation schemes have not been constructed, Hambantota being a predominantly agricultural district. Both Prasanna de Silva of World Vision and Jayatillake felt that more irrigation schemes are needed. 

De Silva said, “Lack of proper irrigation is a major problem in Hambantota.”

Jayatillake said, “We have a project nearing completion that is Mauara Project. It’s in the Moneragala district and will be diverted to Hambantota. So there needs to be more development projects.”

It is probably obvious to any visitor to Hambantota that more irrigation schemes would ease the situation. However, this is easier said than done. With the amount of expenditure the government is currently facing, construction of more irrigation schemes in the south will probably have to take a back seat – at least for now.

Contact Information: Send mail to gosl@presidentsl.org with questions or comments about this web site.  Last modified: November 28, 2005.