Water levels in the reservoirs feeding Sri Lanka’s hydroelectric plants stand at roughly 67% of capacity, enough to meet hydro generation requirements until October, the National System Operator Company said.
The company attributed the level to rainfall received in the upper catchment areas serving the hydropower stations, NewsFirst reported on Sunday. It said decisions on hydroelectric generation from here will depend on coming weather and rainfall.
Irrigation reservoirs are in a weaker position
The picture across the wider reservoir network is less comfortable. The Department of Irrigation put the overall storage of major reservoirs island-wide at around 50%.
H.M.P.S.D. Herath, Director of the department’s Water Management Unit, said storage in the reservoirs the department manages has fallen to 35%.
That is consistent with the department’s own weekly reading, which had major reservoirs at 35.9% of effective storage capacity as of August 21 — a figure covering the 74 major tanks it monitors, with dry-zone reservoirs such as Manankattiya in Anuradhapura down to 1.5%.
The split reflects where the rain has fallen. The hydro catchments sit in the central hills, which have continued to receive rainfall, while the dry-zone irrigation tanks in the north-central and eastern districts have not.
Against a continuing dry spell
The readings come as a dry spell persists across parts of the country. The Disaster Management Centre reported this week that more than 81,000 people across seven districts were affected by dry weather.
Forecasters have also flagged the prospect of El Niño conditions developing later in the year, which would bear directly on whether catchment inflows hold up beyond the October horizon the National System Operator has set out. The Environment Ministry said last week the event had strengthened towards a “very strong” category, with emergency water distribution under way in six districts, and the President has instructed officials to expand small and medium reservoir capacity in preparation.
NewsFirst did not report what share of national electricity generation hydropower is currently supplying, or what the fallback would be if reservoir levels fall faster than expected. No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had carried the National System Operator’s assessment as of Sunday morning.
