Sri Lanka’s major reservoirs held 35.9% of their effective storage capacity as of August 21, according to the latest figures from the Irrigation Department’s Water Management Branch, reported by Daily Mirror on Saturday.
The reading covers the 74 major reservoirs the department monitors nationally.
A sharply uneven picture
The national figure conceals wide regional variation. Kurunegala recorded the highest district storage level at 74.9%, followed by Puttalam at 66.2%, Kandy at 62.3%, Monaragala at 58.4% and Galle at 56.6%.
Several individual reservoirs were close to full. Ambewela in Badulla was at 100% and reported as spilling, Wan Ela in Trincomalee stood at 96.9%, Vakaneri in Batticaloa at 96.2%, Deduru Oya in Kurunegala at 94.6%, Tissa Wewa in Hambantota at 88.0%, Rajangana in Anuradhapura at 85.5% and Kande Ela in Badulla at 85.4%.
At the other end, a cluster of tanks in the dry zone is close to empty. Manankattiya in Anuradhapura held just 1.5% of its effective storage and Muruthawela in Hambantota 1.6%. Ethimale in Monaragala was at 5.4%, Rottikulama in Ampara at 8.1% and Mora Wewa in Trincomalee at 9.5%.
Rainfall in the preceding day was minimal where it fell at all: 6 mm at Ellewela, 5 mm at Kekanadura and 3 mm at Ambewela.
Note: the aggregate volumes published alongside the percentage — 1,067,914 acre-feet of effective storage against a total effective capacity of 1,210,531 acre-feet — work out to about 88%, which cannot be reconciled with a national figure of 35.9% or with a highest district reading of 74.9%. The percentages, which are internally consistent, are reported here.
Why the reading matters now
The figures land in the middle of a dry spell that has already reached households. The Disaster Management Centre reported this week that more than 81,000 people across seven districts were affected by dry weather, and the worst-hit reservoirs are concentrated in exactly those dry-zone districts.
They also give a baseline for the instruction President Anura Kumara Dissanayake issued the same day, when he told officials to increase the capacity of small and medium reservoirs in preparation for El Niño conditions and to bring irrigation rehabilitation under a single national plan.
