Urubokka Dutch Dam | AmazingLanka.com

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By Ms. Badra Kamaladasa (Former Director General of Department of Irrigation)

Anyone who has travelled on the Kotapola-Mulatiana road would have either driven over or seen the Urubokka Dam (anicut, weir). However, only a limited number of people recognize that it not only holds archaeological value but also functions as an active irrigation structure, feeding a series of anicuts along the Urubokka Oya (stream).

The original weir was constructed by the Dutch rulers 238 years ago, in 1787 CE. Through a system of anicuts, it supplied water from the augmented flow of the Urubokka Oya to approximately 5,000 acres of paddy fields. Due to the neglect of maintenance following the removal of the Rajakariya system by the British rulers in 1832, the weir fractured and failed in 1837. It was subsequently reconstructed in 1861. Therefore, the present polished granite weir may be a blend of Dutch and British technology. I feel that our subject of “Irrigation Archaeology” must be developed in the future to conduct explorations to confirm such facts.

Although this structure is quite small when compared to other massive irrigation structures on the island (159’ long and 37’ maximum height), the service it provides to the farmers of the Urubokka Oya irrigation system is immense. From the perspective of water resource engineers, this weir possesses many unique features. It was constructed across a tributary of the Nilwala Ganga (river) and has succeeded in providing a remedy for the water shortage in the Urubokka Oya while simultaneously mitigating floods in the Nilwala Ganga. In other words, it is a key structure in an inter-basin water transfer system. This may be the first inter-basin water transfer system constructed after the Polonnaruwa Kingdom era.

The Urubokka Weir intercepts 9 square miles of the Nilwala Ganga catchment area, and the water collected in this area is diverted into the Ginnaeli Oya, the main tributary of the Urubokka Oya, via a cut-off channel that is 2.75 miles long. Consequently, rainwater falling to the south of the weir flows through the Urubokka River, while rainwater falling to the north flows along the Nilwala Ganga.

Anyone seeing this diversion channel now flowing as a natural waterway through populated areas would not believe it to be a man-made construction (Irrigation Engineers call this a “regime condition”).

In his paper presented at the Centenary Seminar of the Department of Irrigation in 2000, Professor K. D. Paranavitana described the background to the Dutch planning of the Urubokka Weir as follows:

“The most important hydrological project executed during the Dutch rule in Sri Lanka is the construction of the Urubokka weir in 1787. It is situated in the Matara Dissavany, bordering the dry zone Giruwa Pattuwa and Morawak Korale. The excess water collected in Morawak Korale, the upper region of the water-rich Nilwala Ganga situated in the wet zone, caused constant flood damage to the paddy fields downstream of the river, especially to the four rice-producing villages then known as Baikams in the Matara district. In the 1780s, the Giruwapattuva area was devastated by a year-long drought, and its population seriously declined as residents fled to other areas. As a result of this unfortunate experience, a proposal was made by Engineer Pieter Fonander to construct a weir across the Giruwa Oya to protect the paddy lands from floods. The excess water was intended to be diverted through a canal.”

The original layout of this project, prepared by Engineer Fonander himself, was first published by Professor K. D. Paranavitana along with this paper.

Governor Henry Ward, after visiting the Urubokka area in 1860, also documented the conditions of the area before the weir’s construction in his travel notes, quoting the report of the Dutch Engineer Fernandez dated April 16, 1787:

“Speaking of what he (Engineer Fernandez) saw after several years of drought in the province, he says, ‘In what a deplorable state is the country now fallen! The fields are abandoned and depopulated; – the hearts of the coconut trees are cut down for a very small subsistence, merely to keep a family from starving for a day; – large and valuable tracts of fields are lying waste and rapidly covering with jungle; – the ground is cracked with drought; – the inhabitants are skeletons. It is a rare thing to see a kurumba (immature coconut) left on a coconut tree. In short, there is nothing to be done but to weep over the whole.’”

Engineer Fernandez further states:

“The (East-India) Company does not ask for a large sum, only an advance. I humbly submit that it is the Company’s duty to assist the suffering people of this province, which has for so long yielded a high rice harvest. However, whether or not to assist them aside, it should not be the case that their best province is allowed to become a desert and abandoned. According to the report of a Moodliar, nine out of ten residents of this Pattuva have either died of starvation or left the area in the past seven years; and those who remain will follow the example of those who have left if aid is not provided.”

In his 1907 report, “Irrigation in Ceylon,” Captain John Keane mentioned that Governor Henry Ward was not satisfied with mere policy-making and legislation. He further stated that during his tenure, £7,765 was spent on the restoration of irrigation works, the most important of which were the tanks of East Irrakkaman and Ampara, and the Urubokka and Kirama tanks in the Southern Province. The capital for these works was not collected from the beneficiaries at the time of financing, as it was considered that the grain tax levied on the cultivation would adequately cover the investment.

The continuous expansion of water demand for irrigation, domestic, and diverse sectors, along with the emergence of new water users for various needs, makes water resource development a dynamic activity requiring constant innovation. Driven by the demand for a sustainable water supply, the ancient Udukiriwila Reservoir, with a capacity of 3,225 acre-feet, was later restored in the Urubokka Oya, and a modern reservoir named Muruthawela, with a capacity of 38,900 acre-feet, was designed and constructed by Sri Lankan engineers in the late 1960s.

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Traveling Directions of Urubokka Dutch Dam

From Colombo to Urubokka Dutch Dam

Via: Southern Expressway – Middeniya
Total Distance: 224 kilometers
Travel Time : 4 hours
Time to Spend : Approximately 15-30 minutes
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