5W and H Questions for Restore Pinga Oya

Why and Where

Sri Lanka, like the rest of Asia, is organizing rapidly in particular peri-urban (surrounding urban centers) that are changing without overall spatial planning (town planning). Pinga Oya catchment is a prime example of such a peri-urban urbanizing region spanning Katugastota, Akurana, Ambatenne, and Alawatugoda. This led to frequent undue flooding leading to the rapid spread of infectious diseases rise in floods and landslides disasters while leading to less of natural habitats including in the river. There is much information that is available but not accessible and information that is not readily available and there are knowledge gaps. Our work is to address these issues.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආසියානු කලාපයේ සෙසු රටවල මෙන් නාගරික ප්‍රදේශ කේන්ද්‍ර කරගනිමින් විධිමත් නගර සැලසුම් නොමැතිව ශීඝ්‍රයෙන් නාගරීකරණයට ලක්වෙමින් පවතී. පිඟාඔය ජල පෝෂක කලාපය මේ සදහා එක් නිදසුනක් වන අතර කටුගස්තොට, අකුරණ, අඹතැන්න සහ අලවතුගොඩ යන උප නගරවල විහිද පවතී. මේ නිසා ඒ ආශ්‍රිතව ඇතිවන ක්‍ෂණික ගංවතුර තත්ත්වයන් හේතුවෙන් බෝවන රෝග සීඝ්‍රයෙන් ව්‍යාප්ත වීම සහ හදිසි නායයාම් තත්ත්වයන්ට මුහුණ දීම ද සිදුවන අතර පිඟාඔය අවට ස්වභාවික පරිසර පද්ධතිය අඩුවීමට ද හේතු වේ. මේ සම්බන්ධව බොහෝ තොරතුරු ඇති නමුත් පහසුවෙන් පිවිසිය නොහැකි වීම, ඇතැම් කරුණු පිලිබද නිසි අවබොධයක් නොමැති වීම සහ දැනුම් පරතරය පැවතීම යනාදී ගැටළු ඇත. අපගේ කාර්යය වනුයේ මෙම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පවතින ගැටළු පිළිබදව ඔබව දැනුවත් කිරීමයි.


இலங்கை, ஆசியாவின் பிறபகுதிகளைப்போலவே குறிப்பாக புற நகர்ப்புற பகுதிகள் எந்த வித இடம் சார்ந்த திட்டமிடலும் இன்றி மாற்றத்திற்கு உட்பட்டு வருகின்றது. கட்டுகஸ்தோட்டை, அக்குரணை, அம்பத்தென்னை, அலவத்துகொடை போன்ற பிரதேசங்களில் உள்ளடங்கும் பிங்கா ஓயா நீர்ப்பிடிப்பானது இது போன்ற நகரமயமாக்கல் பகுதிக்கு ஓர் பிரதான உதாரணம் ஆகும்.இது அடிக்கடி நிலவும் வெள்ளப்பெருக்கிற்கு வழிவகுப்பதோடு, மற்றும் வெள்ளப்பெருக்கு, நிலச்சரிவு என்பவற்றின் போது பரவும் தொற்று நோய்களையும் அதிகரிக்கின்றது. அதே நேரம் இது ஆற்றில் வாழும் இயற்கை வாழ்விடங்களின் வீழ்ச்சிக்கும் காரணமாய் அமைகின்றது. இருப்பினும் பல தகவல்கள் இது பற்றி இருந்தாலும், அவை அணுக முடியாத முறையிலும் பெற்றுக்கொள்வதில் தாமதம் ஏற்படுத்தும் வகையிலும் உள்ளன. இவ்வாறாக நிலவும் பிரச்சனைகளை தீ்ர்ப்பதே இங்கு எமது நோக்கமாக கருதப்படுகிறது.

Who

This website is intended to aid those affected by environmental mismanagement and disaster, the concerned and the youth to be better informed of the scientific background behind the disasters and to better understand the governance and its shortcomings. This work is being done by persons and organizations who have in-depth knowledge over the last four decades. Our team comprises individuals and organizations concerned with the environment, climate, disasters, and social welfare of women and children. It is supported by a team of younger social and environmental and engineering researchers and ICT technology experts. Individual researchers from several Universities such as Peradeniya, Colombo, Open University of Sri Lanka, Southeastern, and Columbia University of New York are contributing.

මෙම වෙබ් අඩවියේ අරමුණ වනුයේ ස්වාභාවික ආපදා තත්වයන් හේතුවෙන් විපතට පත් වූවන්ට උපකාර කිරීම, ආපදා තත්වයන්ට අදාළ විද්‍යාත්මක පසුබිම පිළිබඳව තරුණ ප්‍රජාව දැනුවත් කිරීම සහ එහි පවතින අඩුපාඩු, පාලනවිධි සම්බන්ධව නිසිලෙස අවබෝධ කර ගැනීමයි. මෙය පසුගිය දශක හතරක කාලය තුළ පුළුල් දැනුමක් සහ අත්දැකිම් ලබා ඇති පුද්ගලයින් සහ සංවිධානවල සහභාගිත්වයෙන් සිදු කරනු ලැබේ. අපගේ කණ්ඩායම පරිසර, දේශගුණ, ආපදා සහ සමාජ සුබසාධන කටයුතු සම්බන්ධ පුද්ගලයින් සහ සංවිධාන වලින් සමන්විත වේ. මේ සදහා තරුණ සමාජ, පාරිසරික සහ ඉංජිනේරු පර්යේෂකයන් සහ තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ විශේෂඥයින්ගෙන් සමන්විත කණ්ඩායමක් සහාය දක්වයි. තවද පේරාදෙණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, කොළඹ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විවෘත විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, අග්නිදිග විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය සහ නිව්යෝක්හි කොලොම්බියා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයන් ද දායකත්වය ලබාදෙයි.


இந்த தளமானது பாதிக்கப்பட்டவர்கள், சம்பந்தப்பட்டவர்கள் மற்றும் இளைஞர்கள் என அனைவரும், அனர்ததங்களுக்கு பின்னால் உள்ள அறிவியல் பின்னணியையும், நிர்வாகம் மற்றும் அதன் குறைபாடுகளையும் புரிந்துகொள்ள வேண்டும் என்பதை நோக்கமாக கொண்டுள்ளது. கடந்த நான்கு தசாப்தங்களாக இது தொடர்பான அனுபவம் மற்றும் அறிவை கொண்ட தனிநபர்களாலும் நிறுவனங்களாலும் இந்த பணி தொடர்கிறது. இந்த அமைப்பு முற்றிலும் மதம், கட்சி, அரசியல் சார்ப்பற்றதோடு எந்தவொரு குறிப்பிட்ட அரசுடனோ அல்லது அதிகாரிகளுடனோ இணைக்கப்படவில்லை. மேலும் சுற்றுச்சூழல் மற்றும் பொறியியல் ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்கள், ICT தொழில்நுட்ப வல்லுநர்கள் போன்றோரின் பாரிய பங்களிப்பை கொண்டுள்ளதொடு, பேராதனை, கொழும்பு, இலங்கை திறந்த பல்கலைக்கழகம், தென்கிழக்கு மற்றும் நியூயோர்க்கின் கொலம்பியா பல்கலைக்கழகம் போன்ற பல பல்கலைக்கழகங்களின் தனிப்பட்ட ஆய்வாளர்களும் பங்களிக்கின்றனர்.

What

This website shall be used to provide a portal for information on environmental and social issues in the Pinga Oya basin. We also seek to identify the gaps in knowledge that are holding back an informed citizenry and advocacy. We shall proceed to provide reliable information to aid advocacy efforts and provide educational materials.

පිඟාඔය ආශ්‍රිතව පවතින පාරිසරික හා සමාජීය ගැටලු පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු සැපයිම සඳහා පිවිසුමක් ලෙස මෙම වෙබ් අඩවිය භාවිතා කළ හැකිය. මෙමගින් දැනුම් හිඩැස් හඳුනා ගැනීමට සහ ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මහජනතාව දැනුවත් කිරීම සදහා අප උත්සාහ දරනෙමු. තවද විශ්වාසදායක තොරතුරු සැපයීම මගින් උපදේශන ප්‍රයත්නයන්ට අදාළව සහය වීමට සහ ඊට අදාළ අධ්‍යාපනික තොරතුරු සැපයීමට ද අපි කටයුතු කරමු.

இந்த வளைத்தளமானது பிங்கா ஓயா ஆற்றுப்படுக்கை தொடர்பான சமூகம் மற்றும் சூழல் சார்ந்த பிரச்சனைகள் பற்றிய தகவல்களை வழங்கும் நோக்குடனும் ஆரம்பிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. மக்களிடையே நிலவும் இது பற்றிய தெளிவற்ற சிந்தனைகளை கண்டறிந்து அவற்றை தெளிவூட்டும் வகையில் செயற்படுவதையும் நோக்கமாக கொண்டுள்ளது. அத்தோடு நம்பகத்தன்மையான தகவல்களை பகிர்தல் மூலம் இது பற்றிய அக்கறை கொண்டவர்களது செயல்களுக்கும் ஆதரவு வழங்கவுள்ளோம்.

How

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අප විසින් ඔබව දැනුවත් කිරීම සදහා සන්නිවේදන ජාලයක් පිහිටුවා ඇති අතර ඊට පුවත්පත් ලිපි සහ බහුමාධ්‍ය අන්තර්ගතයන් ද අදාළ වේ. එය Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram සහ YouTube යන සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ජාල වලින් සමන්විත වේ. මෙම කර්තව්‍ය සාර්ථකව පවත්වාගෙන යාම සහ දායකත්වයන් ගොඩනගා ගැනීමට අප ඔබගේ නිරන්තර සහය අපේක්ෂා කරමු.


இது பற்றிய கலந்துரையாடல்களை மேற்கொள்வதற்கும், தகவல்களை பகிர்வதற்கும் தற்போது நாம் தொடர்பாடல் வலையமைப்புக்களை நிறுவிக்கொண்டு வருகிறோம். Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram மற்றும் YouTube என்பவற்றை உயிர்ப்போடு, தொடர்ந்து செயற்படுத்துவதற்கு உங்கள் ஆதரவு அவசியமானதாகும்.

Current drought prevailing in Sri Lanka: Water reservoirs have dried causing a stall in hydro power generation

Down, down … water reserves hit dangerous low

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/190721/news/down-down-water-reserves-hit-dangerous-low-359054.html

By Shaadya Ismail

Reservoirs are only 20 per cent full and generation of hydro-electricity has stopped even though monsoon rains are falling heavily in parts of the country.

“In 29 years, this is the worst drought-affected result,” the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry said.

Energy costs are rising sharply because the reduction in water inflow to the reservoirs means the ministry cannot use water to generate electricity and is reliant on thermal and coal power.

“We have applied for a loan of Rs. 15 billion from a state-owned bank in order to keep up with the expenditure,” the ministry’s Director of Development, Sulakshana Jayawardena, said,

He said the current water level at the Castlereagh reservoir is 33 per cent; at Maussakelle, 36 per cent; Kotmale, 45 per cent; Victoria, just 15.2 per cent; Randenigala, 26.7 per cent; Samanalawewa, 19.9 per cent.

Water stocks in the reservoirs are expected to decrease further, and Irrigation Department Director-General S. Mohanaraja urged farmers to adopt water-saving methods of agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture said this was the worst Yala season Sri Lanka has experienced.

The ministry’s Director of Socio-Economics and Planning, Dr. R.M. Herath, said more crops would be affected if good rains do not come soon.

Farmers in irrigated areas such as Polonnaruwa, Ampara and Batticaloa have been asked to use water cautiously. As an initiative to encourage cultivation during drought periods the ministry cultivated paddy on 330,000 ha – this was mostly a success although 20,000 ha was spoiled by drought.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said almost 162,000 families are in hardship because of the drought, mainly in the North-Western, North-Central, Eastern and Northern provinces where only low rainfall is expected in the next two weeks.

The department has so far spent more than Rs. 60 million on drought responses including transporting drinking water to families by a network of 600 water bowsers and supplying 20,000 water tanks.

In the rest of the country the south-west monsoon is bringing landslides, floods and heavy winds that have killed seven people so far and left more than a thousand families in hardship.

While the prevailing heavy winds will not result in cyclonic conditions, wind speeds could increase to 70-80kmph in the Western, Southern, Central, Sabaragamuwa, North-Western and North-Central provinces and in the Trincomalee district, the Meteeorological Department said.
Thunderstorms are expected in the Sabaragamuwa, Central, Western, Southern and North-Western provinces and the public has been warned to avoid injury from lightning strikes.

Heavy falls of about 100mm are likely in parts of the Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces. The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) issued warnings about the risk of landslides, slope failures, rock falls and cutting failures in districts such as Ratnapura, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, Kalutara, Matara and Galle. Evacuation warnings have been issued to residents in parts of the Ratnapura, Imbulpe, Ambalangoda, Ambagamuwa, Nuwara Eliya, Kotmale and Udapalatha divisional secretariats.
Compensation up to Rs. 2.5 million can be claimed for property damage while Rs. 250,000 can be claimed for loss of life, the DMC advised.

Flood waters in Nuwara Eliya. Pic by Shelton Hettia-rachchi

 

 

Karuwalagaswewa: Collecting potable water

 

Dikovita harbour : Authoritties banned fishermen from going out to sea due to inclement weather. Pic by Amila Gamage

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