Menik Ganga

Menik Ganga
Menik Ganga (Sinhala: මැණික් ගඟ; Tamil: மாணிக்க ஆறு) is a perennial river in the southern semi-arid pan of Sri Lanka. Originates in the Namunukula mountain range, it flows about 50 miles (80 km) through Buttala and Kataragama before entering into the Indian Ocean via Yala National Park (Arumugam, 1969; Weligamage, 2011). History The ancient name used in Pali chronicles to identify the Menik Ganga river was Kappakandara-nadi (Nicholas, 1963). The Kataragama-Detagamuwa pillar inscription of King Dappula IV (923-935 A.D.) referred to this river as Kapikandur-ho (Ranawella, 2004).  River basin The Menik Ganga river basin extends in an area of about 1,272 km 2 (Dissanayake & Smakhtin, 2007). The annual mean precipitation in the basin is 1,496 mm and the estimated natural annual flow is 347 million cubic meters (Dissanayake & Smakhtin, 2007). Reservoirs & anicuts in the Menik Ganga river basin #) Buttala Anicut                                    #) Karawila Wewa                      …