|
|
 |
  |
| Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Drought not due to lack of rain by Anura Maitipe Drought and floods have become very frequent occurrences in the country for the last two decades. But when we analyze the annual rainfall chart for the last five decades there has been no change in the rainfall figures. The main reason for drought is not insufficient rains received during monsoons but the change in the periodical rain pattern in the country, head of the Rainfall Analysis Branch of Meteorology Department Dr. Senaka Basnayaka said. "The rains received during the period of the South West and the North East monsoons account for nearly 55 percent of annual rainfall and the rest is contributed by inter- monsoonal rains, he added. The South West monsoon rains always exceed 3,000 mm of rain on the south western slopes of the hill country and, during the North East monsoon, the eastern half of the country receives about 1,200 mm of rains. The convectional rains which occur during the inter-monsoonal period spread all over the island. The rainiest period is between October to November and the average rainfall always exceeds 500 mm in all parts of the country then," Dr. Basnayaka said. "In 'Change of periodical rain patterns in Sri Lanka' written by Dr. Basnayaka in 2000, he has indicated that the normal rain pattern has changed. This has resulted in drought and floods in the country. In the past, rains fell in particular seasons at regular intervals but now the rainy season has become shorter and heavy rains fall within a short period with no intervals causing floods and in turn drought, he pointed out. Since it is an act of nature, the weather pattern cannot be changed but we can avoid the drought situation through adaptation of rain harvesting methods such as storing of more water during the rainy season. In this process excavating old tanks in every part of the country is very essential. On the other hand, water for ploughing, sowing and planting crops must be taken in time with the commencement of rains," he explained. "Most of the farmers used to sow paddy in the middle of the rainy season, so at the end there was no rain to feed the crop. Then they sought water from tanks and reservoirs which had been stored for use in the dry season for drinking purposes as well as for crops," he added. "Water purification is a very expensive process. In African countries they have introduced rain harvesting methods to save water. In each and every house they have separate tanks to collect rain water for washing purposes and purified water is used only for drinking purposes," he said. "The careful use of water is the best way to overcome scarcity of drinking water even in Sri Lanka. For instance, over 5,000 million gallons of purified water is daily flushed into toilet septic tanks in urban areas. During the dry season, people in these areas undergo severe shortage of drinking water following water cuts," he pointed out. "This could be easily avoided with use of rain water. In this process every housing complex must have separate tanks to collect rain water from the roof tops for use in toilets and for washing purposes. This method should be introduced in existing housing complexes too in the main cities," Dr. Basnayaka said. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
