Export of technology also considered:

Irrigation Dept seeks to expand its horizons

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Honey is one of the first health foods mankind enjoyed from pre-historic ages. It was consumed as a delicacy. Sometimes, it was used as a material in paintings i.e. at Sigiriya besides having many other uses.

However, only a few people in the world would know that bees' honey along with clay from ant hills (thumbasa) and several other ingredients which existed in the ancient era were used to build dams.

It is said that this 'cement' solution was used to build large reservoirs, binding stones to each other and also stopping water seepage. How this was carried out is still a great mystery!

Maduru Oya was the first major project (1978) taken up for construction under the accelerated program of Mahaweli Development. Europeans were invited to build this dam, and their engineers, after months of studies using sophisticated equipment, selected a suitable site to build the dam. When construction commenced, they found that there was an ancient irrigation site on the place marked to build the Maduru Oya.

These show the engineering creativity of ancient Sri Lanakn engineers, a fact that Sri Lanka can be proud of even in the next century.

However, with the invasion of foreigners, local irrigation systems were cold-shouldered as these foreign rulers were only interested on trade activities.

However, in 1900, in a bid to resurrect these ancient masterpieces, important legislature was effected to create the Irrigation Department.

The creation of the Department undoubtedly helped preserve and re-activate the irrigations system in Sri Lanka and once again brought to use some of the major ancient irrigation projects.

Director General of Irrigation, G.G.A. Godaliyadde said, looking back, they can be happy that they could reactivate most of the old irrigation projects that had been made to idle.

During the 1940 several other projects such as the Parakrama Samudra, Minipe, Kirindi Oya reservoir, Walawe reservoir, Nalanda Oya, Kandalama Tank, Dambulla Wewa, Kantale Augmentation Scheme, Nuwara Wewa and Heda Oya reservoir were considered for rehabilitation.

Agro-based country

Since Sri Lanka is an agro-based country, the rapport between water resources and agriculture will not survive without irrigation. "Today we can boast that over 67 percent of farmers use water provided through our projects," he said.

He said that they are looking at the New Year with bigger targets in mind and is also considering providing Sri Lanka's irrigation technology to other parts of the world as and when requested to do so.

"The Irrigation Department is service-oriented and depends on government finances. However, we are looking at generating some money from our Department to enrich the government coffers", he said.

He said the Hydrology Unit of the Debarment carries out research activities and soil-testing and is providing yeomen service to both the government and the private sector. "This unit undertakes soil-testing, drilling, providing technical know-how and also takes care of the leaks in dams", he said.

He said they construct models of all the dams, maintain and test them before the project proper gets off the ground. "We also play a major role in controlling flooding", Godaliyadde said.

He described irrigation engineers as a rare breed who do not work looking solely at the salary or overtime payments. "This is a 24-hour job. We also spend the same amount of time on our jobs as a doctor. However, our returns are very low", he said.

The Director General said that even when a dam reaches spill level, an emergency situation is declared and all leave of the persons attached to the site are cancelled for maybe even two months.

More funds

Commenting on the future, he said they are very happy that the Government is taking the Department very seriously. "The Government has decided to increase the budget allocation for the Irrigation Department. This year we would receive Rs. 11 billion from the government. Last year we received only Rs. 3.5 billion. This is a major incentive for us", he said the additional funds would enable them to speed up the major construction projects which are currently under way especially in the Polonnaruwa and Ampara districts.

He said one of the biggest mixed development projects. Deduru Oya will be completed this year.

The first stage of the Rambakan Oya project too is expected to be completed this year.

He said they have introduced new technology for the first time which enables water from the bottom of a tank to be retrieved for drinking purposes.

The renovation of several tanks in the North and the East is now in progress.

He said that they also want to move one step ahead together with Irrigation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva who is hoping to introduce new farming methods in future.