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Ulhitiya Reservoir |
Ulhitiya Reservoir (Sinhala: උල්හිටිය ජලාශය) is a storage reservoir situated on the south-western margin of the Maduru Oya National Park in Badulla District, Sri Lanka. It is the largest reservoir in the northern region of the district spreading over one Divisional Secretariat (Wickremasinghe et al., 2018). It is maintained by Mahaweli Development Authority (Wickremasinghe et al., 2018).
The reservoir is surrounded by Rathkinda Reservoir to the north, Maduru Oya Reservoir to the northeast and Sorabora Wewa to the southwest.
History
In the 1970’s, a major irrigation-based multipurpose development program called Mahaweli Development Project was initiated with the aim of generating hydropower and irrigation facilities to dry zone areas and under this mega project, number of dams and reservoirs were constructed (Rajakaruna et al., 2019). As part of this program, an earthfilled dam was constructed across the Ulhitiya Oya, a right bank tributary of the Mahaweli Ganga River. The project was initiated on 30 January 1978 and its construction work commenced in 1979. The reservoir was impounded in 1984.
Reservoir
Ulhitiya is located in the Intermediate Climatic Zone with a mean annual rainfall ranging from 1,500 to 1,700 mm and mean annual temperature of 31.5 °C (Rajakaruna et al., 2019). The reservoir mainly receives rainfall from the north-east monsoon (October to January), followed by a long dry spell from February to August (Rajakaruna et al., 2019).
The reservoir is fed by Mahaweli south cannel and Ulhitiya Oya (Wickremasinghe et al., 2018). Ulhitiya Oya originates from the south-eastern plateau (350 m) of the central massif of the island and drains into the Mahaweli Ganga River at Ulhitiya (Rajakaruna et al., 2019). The reservoir has a total capacity of 88,000 acre foot with a catchment area of 28,230 ha (Rajakaruna et al., 2019). The maximum heights of the Ulhitiya dam is 27 m.
The Rathkinda Reservoir, constructed across the Rathkinda Oya River is located north of Ulhitiya Reservoir. Presently, these two have been merged together to form a twin reservoir system. These reservoirs have total capacity of 146 MCM and an active storage of 99 MCM.
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References
Books, Journal Articles
1) Rajakaruna, S.L., Ranawana, K.B., Gunaratne, A.M.T.A. and Madawala, H.M.S.P., 2019. Change of riparian vegetation from upstream to downstream reaches of a tropical river obstructed by a dam: A case study from Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science, 48(2). pp.143-153.
2) Wickremasinghe, E.S., Dematawewa, C.M.B. and Edirisinghe, U., 2018. Factors associated with illegal fishing practices in three perennial reservoirs in Sri Lanka. Tropical Agricultural Research, 30(1). pp.1-11.
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Attribution
To Whom
LankaPradeepa.com extends its gratitude to Malsha M. Ranasinghe for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.
