Iranamadu Tank

In 1902 the Director of Irrigation H. T. S. Ward came up with proposals for building a new irrigation tank on the Kanakarayan Aru in northern Ceylon. Work in the tank, which had a catchment area of and was to hold of water, began in July 1902 but was delayed by the World War I. Construction was completed in 1921 and the tank was filled and spilling in November 1921. An additional sluice was built on the right bank and the tank was extended onto lands on both banks. The bund was raised to in 1954 to give a storage capacity of . By the late 1960s the tank had a water spread area of . The bund was long. There was a controlled overflow spill on the left bank. The left bank sluice was 5 ft by 4 ft whilst the right bank sluice was 4 ft by 2 ft 8 in. The tank was capable of irrigating of land. The bund was raised to in 1975 to give a storage capacity of . Concerns were raised about the integrity of the bund during the monsoon rains of 1983. An investigation by K. Vigneswaran, deputy director of Irrigation, in early 1984 found that the bund was too weak to hold water higher than and so Vigneswaran ordered that water levels not exceed that amount. The tank was long, wide and in 2012. It was capable of irrigating via of channels. By 2014 the tank was capable of irrigating . ==Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project==

Jaffna Peninsula, which has a population of nearly 600,000, has no perennial rivers and is heavily reliant on groundwater. Unregulated water extraction for industrial, agricultural and domestic use has resulted in acute water scarcity. The water is also polluted due to the absence of a sewerage system and seawater intrusion caused by indiscriminate limestone quarrying. In the 1960s Deputy Director of Irrigation of S. Arumugam developed the River for Jaffna project (known as the Arumugam plan), which involved diverting the freshwater discharged by the Kanakarayan Aru into the heart of the Jaffna peninsula via the Vadamarachchi Lagoon. Whilst parts of the projects were completed in the 1960s, the crucial Mulliyan channel linking Chundikkulam Lagoon with Vadamarachchi Lagoon wasn't built. In 2006 the Sri Lankan government developed a new plan to supply water to Jaffna peninsula, the Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project, which involved drawing water from Iranamadu Tank and transferring via pipeline to the peninsula. However, to ensure that farmers in Kilinochchi District continued to receive adequate supplies of water for irrigation, the tank bund would be repaired and raised by 2 feet to store and extract an additional 27,000m3 of water a day. The project is expected to be completed in February 2017 and result in 60,000 new water connections benefiting 300,000 people and 20,000 mains sewer connections benefiting 80,000 people. ==North Central Province Canal Project==

In 1950s and 1960s the Ceylonese government, with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization, developed the Mahaweli Master Plan to use the waters of the Mahaweli River basin to irrigate Dry Zone land in northern and eastern Ceylon, and generate electricity. The 30-year plan was to cost Rs. 6,700 million and was divided into three phases. Phase 2 (Victoria-Minipe Diversion) was completed in the 1980s but phase 3 (Moragahakanda Project) was abandoned due to water scarcity and the outbreak of the Sri Lankan Civil War. The Moragahakanda Project had originally intended to connect the Mahaweli basin to the Kanakarayan Aru via a new canal - the North Central Province Canal. A modified Moragahakanda Project commenced in January 2007 with the construction of Moragahakanda Reservoir and Kalu Ganga Reservoir. The Moragahakanda Reservoir was financed by a $558 million loan from the China Development Bank and the Kalu Ganga Reservoir was finance by loans from Japan International Cooperation Agency ($109 million) Saudi Fund for Development ($46 million) Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development ($37 million) and OPEC Fund for International Development ($16 million). The North Central Province Canal Project (NCPCP) was launched in 2015. Phase 1 of the NCPCP includes the construction of the Kalu Ganga–Moragahakanda Transfer Canal between Kalu Ganga Reservoir and Moragahakanda Reservoir and construction of the Upper Elahera Canal connecting Moragahakanda Reservoir to existing reservoirs (Eruwewa, Huruluwewa, Mahakanadarawa and Manankattiya). Phase 1 is expected to cost $675 million of which $453 million will come from an Asian Development Bank loan, $108 million from the Sri Lankan government and the remaining $114 million from other financiers. Phase 2 of the NCPCP includes the construction of the North Central Province Canal between Manankattiya to Chemamadu Kulam on the Kanakarayan Aru near Omanthai. Phase 2 is expected to cost Rs. 130 billion and be completed by 2029. ==Notes==