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 w ...

in Sri Lanka. 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 betwee ...

on the southwestern side of Trincomalee Bay. 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 harbours in the world. As part of Mahaweli Development programme the river and its tributaries are

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

med 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 Adam's Peak is a tall conical mountain located in central Sri Lanka. It is well known for the Sri Pada ( si, ශ්‍රී පාද), i.e., "sacred footprint", a rock formation near the summit, which in Buddhist tradition is held to be ...

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.

References

External links

Mahaweli River The Lifeline of Sri Lanka
Rivers of Sri Lanka {{SriLanka-river-stub

Tributaries

Starting of Mahaweli

See also

References

External links