The Mahaweli River ( si, මහවැලි ගඟ, literally "Great Sandy River"; ta, மகாவலி ஆறு
'mahawali gangai'',
is a long river, ranking as the longest
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...
in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. It has a
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
of , the largest in the country, which covers almost one-fifth of the total area of the island.
The real beginning of Mahaweli Ganga starts at Polwathura (at Mahawila area), a remote village of Nuwara-Eliya District in bank Nawalapitiya of Kandy District by further joining of Hatton Oya and Kotmale Oya. The river reaches the
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...
on the southwestern side of
Trincomalee Bay
Trincomalee Bay, also known as Koddiyar Bay, is a bay in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka.
The bay is located by Trincomalee town on the north-east coast of the island.
Geography
Trincomalee Bay is open towards the northeast and has th ...
. The bay includes the first of a number
submarine canyon
A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls, and occasionally having canyon wall heights of up to 5 km, from c ...
s, making Trincomalee one of the finest natural deep-sea
harbour
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...
s in the world.
As part of
Mahaweli Development programme the river and its tributaries are
dammed at several locations to allow
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
in the dry zone, with almost of land irrigated.
Production of
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
from six dams of the Mahaweli system supplies more than 40% of Sri Lanka's electricity needs. One of the many sources of the river is the
Kotmale Oya.
Mahaweli Ganga
/ref>
There is a misconception in Sri Lanka that the Mahaweli starts in the Sri Pada mountain. The Mahaweli gets its source waters from Horton Plains
Horton Plains National Park ( si, හෝර්ටන් තැන්න ජාතික උද්යානය, Hortan Thanna Jathika Udyanaya) is a national park in the central highlands of Sri Lanka that was designated in 1988. It is locate ...
in Kirigalpoththa and the Thotupola mountain range.
Tributaries
* Nanu Oya
* Puna Oya
* Pundalu Oya
* Kotmale Oya
* Hatton Oya
* Nilamba Oya
* Thalathu Oya
* Hulu Ganga
* Beli Ul Oya
* Kirindi Oya
* Loggal Oya
* Uma Oya
* Badulu Oya
* Amban Ganga
Starting of Mahaweli
The Mahaweli River starts from Polwathura/Mahavila area with its water source starting from the Horton Plains National Park.
See also
* List of rivers in Sri Lanka
The following table lists most rivers of Sri Lanka. Since Sri Lanka is a trilingual country, some rivers may have a Sinhala name (i.e. Kalu Ganga), while other have an English name (i.e. Kelani River). In the Sinhala language, Ganga (ගඟ) t ...
* Mahaweli Development programme
References
External links
Mahaweli River The Lifeline of Sri Lanka
Rivers of Sri Lanka
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