Water supply cut to Mawanella and Aranayaka as rain blocks intakes

Mains water has been cut off across the Mawanella and Aranayaka Divisional Secretariat divisions in the Kegalle district after heavy rainfall blocked the intake points that feed two treatment plants, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board said on Monday.

The obstruction affects the water intakes supplying the Asupini Ella and Mawanella treatment plants. The NWSDB said both plants are unable to operate under normal conditions while their intake points remain blocked, and that supply has been suspended completely in the two divisions as a result.

Areas running from Mawanella to Karandana Junction and along the Mawanella–Rambukkana road are still receiving water, but at reduced pressure.

The board said it will begin clearing the blocked intake points and bringing the treatment plants back to normal operation once weather conditions improve, and aims to restore supply as soon as possible. It did not give an estimated time for restoration.

A weather-driven failure, not a scheduled cut

The disruption is a consequence of the wet spell rather than planned maintenance. Intake structures draw raw water from streams and rivers, and sustained heavy rain pushes debris, silt and vegetation into them — the same runoff that has been closing roads across the region.

Both affected divisions sit inside the area under active landslide warnings. The National Building Research Organisation’s alerts for Kandy, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura place Aranayaka under a second-level amber warning, alongside Yatiyantota, Bulathkohupitiya, Deraniyagala and Dehiowita in the same district.

Kitulgala, in the Kegalle district, recorded 140.8 mm of rain in the 24 hours to 6.00 a.m. on Monday, one of the heaviest falls in the country. Elsewhere in the district, traffic on the Yatiyantota–Bulathkohupitiya road stopped completely after the Parussella embankment bridge went under water, and the Irrigation Department has placed low-lying land at Dehiowita, Ruwanwella and Yatiyantota under a major flood warning.

The Met Department expects the rain to ease from Tuesday afternoon.