Rivers of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka's Rivers (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ගංගා; Tamil: இலங்கையின் ஆறுகள்) rise from the country's inland regions such as the Central Highlands and flow towards the sea. According to traditional classification, there are 103 rivers (basins) in Sri Lanka and 16 of them are longer than 100 km in length while 12 of them carry about 75% of the mean river discharge in the entire country (Katupotha & Gamage, 2020; Weerasinghe, 2008). Their basins cover 90% of the island.
A river is a ribbon-like body of water that flows downhill from the force of gravity representing different drainage patterns (Katupotha & Gamage, 2020). It can be wide, deep or shallow enough for a person to wade across (Katupotha & Gamage, 2020). A river with a regular discharge, throughout the year, is known in Sri Lanka as a Ganga while a smaller river that dries up during the dry season is called an Oya (De S. Hewavisenthi, 1997). Although there are 103 river basins in Sri Lanka, only 29 can be ident…
