Amazing cascade of water...

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

It is amazing how a cascade of water falls from a height, when a river or stream flows over a steep incline. Privileged to have a broad spectrum of various climates due to geographical changes, Sri Lanka is blessed with a large number of waterfalls -well-known and the not-so-well-known.

Did you know that the Ratnapura district has the highest number of water falls? Well according the Central Environment Authority , yes it is. It has 113 water falls of various heights.

To address the crucial issue of inadequate electricity supply, Mini Hydro power plants have been identified as a 'green' source of power generation. The large number of water falls found in Sri Lanka seemed as a good source of power generation for the Mini hydro power plant technology.

According to the Chairman of the Central Environment Authority there is a high tendency to put up mini hydro power plants especially in remote areas. Studies have shown that mini hydro power plants are a 'green' engagement for developing electricity.

"But also there are issues with this technology usage. Mini hydro power plant developers are selecting areas which has water falls for their development. So there for there are issues with these kind of developments. Based on these problems we had to stop certain projects. These projects completely stopped the existing water falls.," Herath said. Hydro power plants convert potential energy of water into electricity. It is a clean source of energy .The water after generating electrical power is available for irrigation and other purposes.

Developers construct the weir (minidam) across the top of the waterfall blocking the water flow. If this is going to continue without any regulations Sri Lanka would lose all these water falls," he added. Thus the Central Environment Authority decided to declare a number of naturally important water falls which are national assets. Accordingly 384 water falls are declared as national assets and development work on those areas are prohibited.

"We want the mini hydro power plants to continue but we need to secure the existing naturally important water falls," he said.

"It is not only the main well-known water falls that are important. Small waterfalls abundant in many parts of the country need to be protected to keep the balance of the environment," Herath added. "So what we did was that we started a study through the Natural resource management unit of the CEA where we came up with these findings," he added.

How abundant are our water falls? Well, out of the total 25 districts of the country water falls are recorded in 14 districts, according to the CEA. "We have a large number of water falls and as of records 384 waterfalls are within these 14 districts," said A.S.K. Rodrigo, Director of the Natural Resource Management Division of the CEA.

In the Ratnapura district itself there are 113 water falls. Namely,

Abanganga Ella, Aguruwawala Ella, Alupotha Ella, Anda Ella, Arambe Ella, Balangoda Doowili Ella, Balangoda Ranmudu Ella, Balla Mala Ella, Bambarabotuwa Ella ,Bandigewatta ella , Beruwatta ella, Bihiri ella, Biso Dola ella, Bopath ella, Brampton ella, Bulutota ella ,Chitramala ella Dahaiagala ella and many more waterfalls.

The Nuwara Eliya district has 71 water falls, Kegalle district has 45 water falls Badulla district has 29 water falls Kandy district has 24 water falls Kalutara district has 26 water falls Matale district has 21 water falls Galle district has 25 water falls Matara district has 12 water falls Monaragala district has seven water falls Colombo district has four water falls Kurunegala has one water fall Hambantota district has two water falls Gampaha district has three water falls

"Some of these water falls are picturesque only during certain months but they are important to the locality," said Jeeva Wickramasuriya David, Assistant Director of the Natural Resource Management division. As she explained the survey on water resource needed to be up dated to draw up plans to protect them.

As the CEA points out the most important issue is public awareness.

"People are more aware of the importance of nature and are vigilant," said Rodrigo , Director Natural Resource Management. This is a good sign for the protection of the environment which is the key attraction to Sri Lanka, he added.