Malwathu Oya

Malwathu Oya
Malwathu Oya Malvathu River (Sinhala: මල්වතු ඔය; Tamil: அருவி ஆறு) (Tamil: Aruvi Aru) is a river in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka.  The river originates from Ritigala Hills (766 m MSL) in the North Central Province and after travelling about 162 km, it eventually empties into the Indian Ocean at Arippu in Mannar District (Thiruvarudchelvan & Sivakumar, 2019).  History Malwathu Oya is mentioned in chronicles such as Mahavamsa as Kadamba Nadi [(Kalamba or Kolom Oya) Nicholas, 1963]. King Vasabha (67-111 A.D.) is said to have improved a temple named Kalambatitha or Gal-ambatitha Viharaya which was on the bank of the Malwathu Oya (Nicholas, 1963). King Moggallana II (531-551 A.D.) built a tank named Pattapasana Wewa (probably Nachchaduwa Wewa ) by damming the Malwathu Oya (Nicholas, 1963). River basin The Malwathu Oya river basin extending in an area of about 3,284 k m 2 is the second-largest catchment among the river basins in Sri Lanka (Dahanayake & Rajapakse, 2019). About 70% of the upper ca…