The Importance of Rain Water Harvesting Ponds as a Solution for the Problem of Water Scarcity in the Dry Zone in Sri Lanka-A Study Based on Thanamalwila DSD Division

Generally, drought is a regular event in Sri Lanka, where most part of the year experiencesscarcity of water for a considerable time period. It is evident that, in the Yala season (May-September), the entire dry zone is highly vulnerable to dry spells or occasionally droughtconditions. Not only drought but also are dry spells serious problem setback the economicand status of that region.In the dry zone the most vulnerable drought affected areas are Monaragala, Vauniya,Hambantota and Polonnaruwa. Most of these areas, agriculture is practiced with rainfall andirrigation water supply. In Anuradhapura, small tank irrigation and large scale irrigationprojects have been established to overcome seasonal water scarcity. However, in Monaragala,such water systems are limited. Most prominent agriculture systems are chena cultivation andhome gardens. Climatically this area receives of high rainfall from October to November,while the water is scarce in the rest of the year. In order to overcome the agricultureproblems, many water utilisation systems have been established by government and NGO‟ssuch as World Vision. Rain water Harvesting Pond systems (RWHP) is one of them. Thisresearch examined how far the RWHP system has been successful to solve the farmer‟s waterproblems taking Thanamalwila as the sample. The methods of data collection werequestionnaires, structured interviews, in-depth and open ended interviews and key informerinterviews. Focus group discussion and general observations were done to identify theenvironmental condition such as small tanks, soil water, ground water, vegetation andstreams. Formal interviews were done with selected 100 frames who utilized RWP. It wasfound that related to RWHP system, 100% water utilisation was for agriculture. Most farmersuse RWHP for multiple purposes such as vegetation cultivation, domestic use of water andanimal husbandry. Success is highly dependent on the location of ponds and some ponds areactive throughout of the year. According to water availability in the stream, some are activeonly for a limited period because surface water storage is very limited.Keywords: Drought, Ground water, Irrigation system, Rain water harvestingponds, Water utility