The Kotmale River
( si, කොත්මලේ ඔය ) is the longest tributary of
Mahaweli River
The Mahaweli River ( si, මහවැලි ගඟ, literally "Great Sandy River"; ta, மகாவலி ஆறு 'mahawali gangai'', is a long river, ranking as the longest river in Sri Lanka. It has a drainage basin of , the largest in the ...
. The river begins as the
Agra Oya
Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
, in the
Horton Plains
Horton Plains National Park ( si, හෝර්ටන් තැන්න ජාතික උද්යානය, Hortan Thanna Jathika Udyanaya) is a national park in the central highlands of Sri Lanka that was designated in 1988. It is locate ...
. The Central Plains have an annual rainfall of between 125 and 200 inches a year. The river is approximately long and drains a basin of about 58,534 ha (226 square miles). The river flows through a traditional area of ancient villages and tea plantations. King Dutugemunu spent his youth here. The Kotmale Oya flows into the Mahaweli shortly at
Pallegama
Pallegama is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province. The Kotmale Oya drains into the Mahaweli River
The Mahaweli River ( si, මහවැලි ගඟ, literally "Great Sandy River"; ta, மகாவலி ஆறு 'm ...
. Tributaries of the Kotmale Oya include the
Nanu Oya
Nanu Oya is a long stream in the Central Province of Sri Lanka It originates from Pidurutalagala at an elevation of over and drains into the Kotmale Oya at an elevation of approximately . The Kotmale Oya is a tributary of the Mahaweli River, t ...
, the
Pundalu Oya, the
Puna Oya
Puna may refer to:
Places Americas
* Puña, a town in the Department of Cajamarca of Peru
* Puna, Potosí, a village in Bolivia
* Puna, Hawaii, a district in the east-southeast portion of the Island of Hawaii
* Puná Island, an island off the co ...
, and the
Dambagastalawa Oya.
The river was
dammed
''Dammed: The Politics of Loss and Survival in Anishinaabe Territory'' is a 2020 book by Brittany Luby, Associate Professor of History at the University of Guelph. The book charts the impacts of the damming of the Winnipeg River in the Lake of ...
between 1979 and 1985 as part of a hydro-electric project within the Accelerated Mahaweli Ganga scheme. The opening ceremony took place in August 1985. Some 3,000 families had to be relocated to higher ground. The area has a history of geological instability.
See also
*
List of rivers of Sri Lanka
The following table lists most rivers of Sri Lanka. Since Sri Lanka is a trilingual country, some rivers may have a Sinhala name (i.e. Kalu Ganga), while other have an English name (i.e. Kelani River). In the Sinhala language, Ganga (ගඟ) tr ...
*
St. Clairs Falls
*
Devon Falls
Devon Falls, known as the 'Veil of the Valley', is a waterfall in Sri Lanka, situated west of Talawakele, Nuwara Eliya District on the A7 highway. The falls is named after a pioneer English coffee planter called Devon, whose plantation was s ...
*
Kotmale Dam
The Kotmale Dam is a large hydroelectric and irrigation dam in Kotmale, Sri Lanka. The dam generates power from three turbines, totalling the installed capacity to , making it the second largest hydroelectric power station in Sri Lanka. Constru ...
*
Upper Kotmale Dam
The Upper Kotmale Dam (also known as the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Project, or UKHP) is located in Talawakele, within the Nuwara Eliya District, in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The dam feeds the third largest hydroelectric power station ...
References
{{SriLanka-river-stub
Rivers of Sri Lanka