Eight of Sri Lanka’s main hydropower reservoirs are below 60 percent capacity as the Meteorology Department warns that the developing El Niño will disrupt the June–September monsoon, the Sunday Times reported.
Mahaweli Department data cited in the report places Rantambe, Victoria, Upper Kotmale, Maussakele, Samanalawewa, Castlereigh, Kotmale and Dayaraba below the 60 percent mark. Randenigala stands at 85 percent, Bowatenna at 87 percent and Polgolla is the only reservoir above its rated capacity at 101 percent.
Meteorology Department Director General Athula Karunanayake said the southwest monsoon is expected to begin next month but will be disrupted from June through September by the developing El Niño. Heavy rains will not return until the second inter-monsoon period in October and November, he said, urging consumers and the irrigation sector to ration water immediately.
Deputy Met Director Meril Mendis said the first spell of pre-monsoon rains expected next week would arrive as 30 to 60 minute evening showers, insufficient to lift upper-catchment reservoir levels.
Frontline Socialist Party convener Duminda Nagamuwa told the newspaper that a March 24 meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, attended by Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation Minister K.D. Lal Kantha and Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody, decided to release more than the normal volume of water from the Victoria reservoir to ease the energy crisis. Officials at the meeting estimated Rs. 7,260 million in savings from the additional generation, Nagamuwa said.
According to the FSP, the agreed drawdown would cut Victoria’s reserve by 330 million cubic metres, leaving only 75 million cubic metres against a recommended minimum of 405 million cubic metres for drinking water and irrigation. The party first raised the allegation last week.
A weakened monsoon would compound pressure on the National System Operator to lean on thermal generation, strengthening the case for tariff increases at a moment when the Energy Ministry is also drafting an annual tariff formula to replace the current quarterly mechanism.
