Flooding and rainwater running unutilised to sea

As has been usual in our country, at every monsoon season especially during the South-West monsoon flooding, landslides and displacement of citizens have become normal. Every year this newspaper has highlighted this fact and called on authorities to draw up plans to prevent these disasters.  

To date, 16 people have died, 5 remain missing and 84,749 persons have been displaced. Sadly, nothing has changed. Have our engineers run out of ideas as to how such disasters could be prevented?   

Media reports show 2017 was perhaps the worst year since torrential rains soaked the country in May 2003. The Disaster Management Center reported more than 150 deaths, over 1,800 damaged homes and almost half a million people becoming homeless. The worst-affected area was Bulathsinhala in the Kalutara District.  

In May 2003 after heavy monsoon rains, villages in the South and Southwest of the country were struck by flash floods, landslides and mudslides on 17 May. Several rivers overflowed, inundating large tracts of land. Numerous villages were totally or partially submerged. Floodwater and landslides cut off many roads.   

The worst affected areas were the five districts Kalutara, Hambantota, Galle, Matara and Ratnapura, with the latter two being the worst affected. In Ratnapura, the water level was approximately ten metres above normal.  
According to government figures, nearly 146,000 families were affected while 250 people were killed. Approximately 10,000 houses were destroyed and another 30,000 houses were partially destroyed.  
Flooding during the South-West Monson has almost become normal. The only difference has been the scale of damage over the years. It also means that so much of water is running waste into the sea. At the same time, we know the lands in the dry zone from Anuradhapura to Jaffna are starving for water.  

Again the provision of pipe-borne water to Colombo is extremely limited and dependent on waters from the Ambatale Wewa. During the prolonged dry weather the water at this reservoir tends to almost run dry. In turn, it leads to calls for residents to use water sparingly. With a large number of offices and factories located in the Colombo district industrial production is adversely affected.  

Some years ago there was talk of building a reservoir to harvest the waters of the Kelani River which could then be used to replenish the waters at Ambatale or the construction of a separate reservoir. But, for one reason or another, these plans never materialised.   

Another plan in waiting has been the diverting of the Kelani River to the North and North Central provinces.  
Both the North Central and Northern Province have agricultural lands in abundance but lack a regular supply of sufficient irrigation facilities. The source of both the Kelani and Mahaweli rivers are in close proximity to each other. Could not the waters of the Kelani be connected/tunneled to join up with the Mahaweli River?  

This would provide sufficient water to bring thousands of acres of land under cultivation not only in the Anuradhapura district, but also meet the needs of the Jaffna district as well.  

The recently opened Uma Oya diversion scheme (using Iranian expertise) has given our engineers the expertise to tunnel waters to a particular destination.  

Can the engineers of the Irrigation Department put their newly gained expertise in tunneling, to divert the waters of the Kelani River to link up with the Mahaweli?   

Such a move will benefit the farming community in the North Central and Northern provinces. It will also help the country to achieve not only self-sufficiency in food production, but also create buffer stocks.

   
Centuries ago King ‘Parakramabahu the Great’ said ‘We will not let a single drop of rain which falls on the soil run unutilised to the sea’.  

Isn’t it time our governing authorities turn this promise into a reality? In the time of the kings, they did not have the benefit of different forms of mechanized equipment. Yet, they created great irrigation systems of yesteryear. It is time we make use of the bounties nature has provided us, rather than wail over the miseries of flooding and its attendant disasters.