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Kala Wewa |
Kala Wewa (Sinhala: කලා වැව) is a twin reservoir complex (Kala-Balalu Wewa) situated in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka. The famous Avukana Buddha Statue is located about 2.7 km west of this reservoir.
History
The Kala Vapi or the Kala Wewa was constructed during the reign of King Dhatusena [(459-477 A.D.) Arumugam, 1969; Nicholas, 1963]. It is said that Dhatusena built Kala Wewa to encompass Balalu Wewa which was built by King Kutakannatissa [(42-20 B.C.) Fernando, 1980]. According to historical sources, King Mahinda II (777-797 A.D.) improved and strengthened the work (Arumugam, 1969).
The present reservoir was restored in 1887 and in 1939, it was enlarged by 6 ft. (Arumugam, 1969). The breaches in 1957 were repaired in 1958 and the twin reservoirs Kala Wewa and Balalu Wewa were merged together to form one large reservoir (Arumugam, 1969). In 2015, the reservoir was rehabilitated by the Dam Safety & Water Resources Planning Project.
The Reservoir
The Kala Oya valley was dammed by a 5-mile (8.04 km) long earthen embankment of about 60 ft. high to form the reservoir across the Kala Oya and the Jaya Ganga. It has a capacity of 100,000 acre feet (123 million cubic meters) and is facilitated by a stone-made spillway and three main sluices (Yodha Ela, Goda Ela, and Balalu-wewa). The water of the reservoir is brought to the Tissa Wewa reservoir in Anuradhapura by an ancient 54-mile (86.90 km) long canal called Jaya Ganga (present Yodha Ela) Arumugam, 1969; Nicholas, 1963]. This canal was also built by Dhatusena and is considered a unique creation of ancient engineers (Fernando, 1980; Rathnayake & Jayasena, 2020).
Yodha Ela (Jaya Ganga)
Jaya Ganga was originally created to bring the surplus water to the tanks of the Malwatu Oya Basin through a channel emerging from the north-west corner of Kala Wewa (Cook, 1950; Rathnayake & Jayasena, 2020). It is 40 ft. wide, 54 miles long channel with a gradient half a foot to the mile for the first 20 km (Cook, 1950; Fernando, 1980). The entire length of the flow path of the Jaya Ganga is about 87 km (54 miles) and consist of a meandering route (Rathnayake & Jayasena, 2020). The Jaya Ganga joins Tissa Wewa and has branch channels to Nachchaduwa Wewa and Nuwara Wewa, filling a number of small tanks enrout (Cook, 1950).
New Jaya Ganga
In the 1970s, an additional quantity of water was provided to the old Jaya Ganga under the Mahaweli Development Program, which utilized the waters of the Mahaweli Ganga River (Rathnayake & Jayasena, 2020). As a part of this, the New Jaya Ganga was constructed parallel to the old channel (Rathnayake & Jayasena, 2020). Also, the flow path of the old Jaya Ganga was separated into 3 segments and the middle segment was completely abandoned (Rathnayake & Jayasena, 2020). At present, the old Jaya Ganga mainly provide water to paddy cultivations up to Mahailuppallama (Rathnayake & Jayasena, 2020).
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Balalu Wewa |
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References
Books, Journal Articles
1) Arumugam, S., 1969. Water resources of Ceylon: its utilisation and development. Water Resources Board. pp.17,342-343.
2) Cook, E.K., 1950. A note on irrigation in Ceylon. Geography, pp.75-85.
3) Fernando, A.D.N., 1980. Major ancient irrigation works of Sri Lanka. Journal of the Sri Lanka Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 22, pp.1-24.
4) Nicholas, C. W., 1963. Historical topography of ancient and medieval Ceylon. Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series (Vol VI). Special Number: Colombo. Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch). p.166.
5) Rathnayake, R.D.D.P. and Jayasena, H.A.H., 2020. Does the ancient Yoda Ela in Sri Lanka represent a technical innovation of hydraulic engineers? A geoenvironmental appraisal. Proceedings ICEWW 2020: 22nd International Conference on Environment, Water and Wetlands.