Water management problems related major reservoirs and irrigation systems in Polonnaruwa District, Sri lanka

Abstract

Water is a scarce resource in the dry zone of Sri Lanka and it is a major problem faced by the cultivators in the area. Since their cultivations totally depend on irrigation water every possible effort should be put in order to optimize the water usage to achieve increased crop production. Recent reports on water management activities of several irrigation schemes in the Dry Zone indicates, that the water distribution is not meeting the demands of farmers in terms of adequacy, reliability and timelines. Further it was said that there is considerable potential to increase paddy field in this system through improved irrigation water management, especially by efficient irrigation scheduling. The study intends to find out the annual statement of reservoir replenishment and behaviour is monthly analysed about reservoirs condition by Irrigation Department and recorded below data to statements for the water – year ending the month by month in orderly. It includes rainfall on catchment, area irrigated, water area, yield from catchment, issues from sluices, discharge over spills, change in reservoir storage, vapour-seepage loss, reservoir storage, depth at lowest sluice. And also this study identified above conditions and water management problems related ParakramaSamudraya, Giritale, Minneriya and Kaudulla major reservoirs in Polonnaruwa District. The greater part of the irrigated rice area is in the dry zone and the water availability there is less than that in others areas. Additionally, competition from domestic and industrial sectors will also increase. Therefore, water scarcities in the dry zone will have a severe impact on meeting the additional food requirements of the increasing population. In this respect, it is of vital importance to understand the regional scarcities of water and their impact on future food production.