In the early hours of Tuesday (August 8), the authorities started releasing water for agricultural use from the Samanalawewa reservoir to the Udawalawe reservoir.
D.V. Chanaka, the state’s minister of power and energy, claims that for three days, 3.5 million cubic metres of water will be discharged.
As of Monday morning (Aug. 7), the Udawalawe reservoir’s active water capacity, which has a total water capacity of 217,800 acre-feet, has decreased to 956 acre-feet. This just makes up 0.45% of the aquatic body’s total water capacity.
During the growing season, the Udawalawe reservoir releases an average of 32,000 acre-feet of water each day.
