Disregarding nature’s safeguards

The recent floods that claimed several lives and rendered thousands of people homeless in a number of districts have exposed the lack of action taken by the relevant authorities to establish a proper water retention network.

Two main reasons that have been attributed to heavy flooding were that canals that retain water have been filled up with waste matter and the other is where people have filled wetlands illegally either for residential or commercial purposes.

More than 25 people died and some 275,000 were displaced in Kalutara, Gampaha, Galle, Matara, Puttlam, Ratnapura, Badulla and Kegalle districts as a result of floods.

Gemunu Alawattegama, the acting general manager of the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (SLRDC) confirmed that people continue to illegally fill up marsh land and wetlands and that in many areas canals which used to retain water were now blocked.

He said these were some of the main reasons that have contributed to a great extent in aggravating the flood situation in the country.

Mr. Alawattegama said when people fill up lands which retain water and when canals are blocked, water tends to spread around in adjoining areas affecting people and their habitats.

He said his institution was mainly supervising the Greater Colombo area and the Western Province while wetlands in the rest of the country came under the purview of the local authorities in those areas. However he added that the SLRDC has undertaken projects in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts.

He said most of the Greater Colombo area canals which had a lower water retention capacity due to a number of reasons, have been cleared by the SLRDC and it was one of the main reasons for Colombo not being seriously affected by floods when compared to other areas in the country.

Mr. Alawattegama said his institution had currently imposed a ban on filling up wetlands in the Greater Colombo area until the end of next year and is in the process of identifying the areas to be declared as those essential for water retention.

“We will classify areas as ‘highly sensitive’, ‘sensitive’ and ‘medium sensitive’ according to their importance with regard to water retention and then it will be easy for us to carry out our tasks more effectively, he said.

Mr. Alawattegama said the SLRDC received about 50 complaints a month mostly from the Greater Colombo area with regard to illegal filling of SLRDC land.

He said canals of 45 kilometres in length and 361 hectares of retention area in Greater Colombo come under the purview of the SLRDC.

One of the districts seriously affected by the recent floods was Gampaha where one person was reported killed and 136,700 displaced. Among the other areas badly affected were Wattala, Negombo, Katana, Ja-ela, Kelaniya and Biyagama.

Explaining why Gampaha district was so adversely affected, Mr. Alawattegama said most of the canals or waterways did not have the capacity to retain enough water as they were full of waste matter and wetlands had also been indiscriminately filled up.

He said there was an urgent need for cleaning and de-stilting the Ja-ela and Dandugama canals including most of the others in the Gampaha district but without the necessary funding the clearing operations have been put on hold.

Mr. Alawattegama said though 400 acres of the Muthurajawela marsh land have been allocated for development purposes there is no possibility of flood threats as a proper drainage system has been built.

Every one of those who were affected by the recent floods have pointed accusing fingers at the authorities for failing to take necessary measures to prevent flooding though they promise to do so every time it happens.

When The Sunday Times interviewed some residents in the Mabola area living on land bordering the Muthurajawela marshy land and ‘Olanda’ canal said that every year they were affected by floods and this year very badly because that particular canal has not been cleaned for years.

“Every year we get our land and houses flooded because this canal has very little capacity to retain water as it is full of mud and other waste matter. This canal has not been cleared for more than 10 years”, Cyril Wijekoon a resident of Mabole said.

He said about 500 houses have been affected due to the recent floods and added that when people in the area complained to the Wattala Pradeshiya Sabha they were asked to go to the Divisional Secretaries office in Wattala and when they went there they were told to take the matter up with the SLRDC.

Residents said a garments washing facility that has been built on the edge of the canal has aggravated the tendency to flooding.
People at Delatura in Ja-ela complained that their houses and the roads have gone under water because of a huge container yard that has been built on filled up Muthurajawela marsh land.

They said the vehicular traffic on the Ja-ela -- Negombo road which goes via Pamunugama came to a virtual standstill for several days because of the flooding.