As a follow-up to the “all-hazards” approach to developing an early warning system, LIRNEasia along with Vanguard Foundation, Sri Lanka National Committee of Large Dams and ITDG are working together to produce a concept paper that would outline the contours of an early warning system for dam related hazards.

There are approximately 320 medium and large dams in Sri Lanka and around 10,000 small dams, most of which are more than 1000 years old. The consequences of a major dam failure in Sri Lanka can be devastating to life, property and the environment. This is not a theoretical possibility but something that has occurred 19 years ago in Kantale, Trincomalee district in 1986. The Kantale dam which is more than 50 feet high and 13,760 ft long, breached in the early hours of 20th April and rapidly flooded villages downstream killing 127 people and destroying property in the region of Rs 575 million.

We undertook a field trip to Kantale in the first week of June to talk to the survivors of the 1986 breach and reconstruct what happened and why so many lives were lost. We also wanted to ascertain what lessons, if any, have been learnt from the catastrophic events of 1986 and implemented. If there were to be a catastrophic dam failure in Sri Lanka today, 19 years after the Kantale breach, is there a warning system in place to detect the failure and to issue timely warnings to downstream communities? Have the downstream communities participated in evacuation drills and know what action needs to be taken when a warning is issued?

The answers to these questions have been obtained from more than a dozen camera interviews and will be presented in the concept paper on early warning system for dam related hazards in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates.

LIRNEasia and Vanguard Foundation, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka National Committee of Large Dams, have conducted an Expert Consultation as the basis for developing a concept paper on an Early Warning System for Dam Related Hazards. Most of the Sri Lankan experts on dam management and safety were invited to this event.

The event was kicked off by Chandra Jayaratne, Director of the Vanguard Foundation and Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director of LIRNEasia with a welcome address and opening remarks.

The first presentation titled, Nineteen years later, what lessons have been learnt from the Kantale breach (and what changes have been implemented)? by D W R Weerakoon, Former Director General of Irrigation and Secretary, Presidential Commission on the Kantale Dam Breach.

It was followed by a presentation by Nimal Wickramaratne, Director, Headworks of the Mahaweli Authority documenting International best practices in dam safety.

The third presentation documented the Current situation of dam management in Sri Lankaby Badra Kamaladasa, Deputy Director (Dam Safety), Department of Irrigation.

The fourth and the last presentation was made by Tissa Illangasekare, AMAX Distinguished Chair of Environmental Science & Engineering & Professor of Civil Engineering; Director, Center for Experimental Study of Subsurface Environmental Processes (CESEP) Colorado School of Mines, USA & Anura Jayasumana, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering & Computer Science, Colorado State University, USA via videoconferencing from Colorado. Their presentation explored What are some innovative technologies for hazard detection in dams?

Each presentation was followed by 30 minutes of discussion. The Expert Consultation ended with an open forum where dam experts discussed some of the crucial issues raised in the presentations. This session was chaired by K.S.R. De Silva, Director General of Irrigation & President, Sri Lanka National Committee on Large Dams.

Based on the discussions and presentations, a concept paper on an Early Warning System for Dam Related Hazards is currently being written and will be presented on this website shortly for your comments. Please check back later.