The Ministry of Agriculture has made arrangements to release water from 11 tanks belonging to the Monaragala District to the Udawalawe Reservoir to save at least part of the nearly 65,000 acres of paddy fields that are in danger of being destroyed due to the severe drought in the area.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, an official of the Ministry said that the water level of the Udawalawe Reservoir has dropped to 2% due to the drought and that nearly 65,000 acres of paddy fields were at risk of being destroyed due to the lack of a water supply as of Tuesday (1).

The Ministry’s efforts to release 27 million cubic metres (MCM) of water from the Samanalawewa Reservoir in Balangoda to the Udawalawe Reservoir for a period of 10 days proved futile as the Ceylon Electricity Board had warned of a three-hour-long power cut to the Southern Province if the water level in the Samanalawewa Reservoir decreased.

The official said that Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera and Ministry Secretary Gunadasa Samarasinghe had held discussions with several parties with regard to supplying water to the Udawalawe Reservoir to save at least part of the possible destruction of paddy cultivations. Accordingly, he said that arrangements had been made to release water from 11 tanks in the Monaragala District to the Udawalawe Reservoir through the Weli Oya anicut.

It has been estimated that an overall loss of Rs. 30 billion will be incurred due to the Udawalawe Reservoir drying up, while it is feared that the same may result in the destruction of paddy and other crop cultivations as well as setbacks to the generation of electricity.