Kalu River

The Kalu in Ratnapura

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Kalu is a river in south-west of Sri Lanka. It flows through the districts of Ratnapura and Kalutara. Its source lies in the wetlands of the central highlands of Sri Pada on. It ends at the town of Kalutara in the Indian Ocean. The mean annual runoff are around eight cubic kilometers. The river is heavily burdened by extensive agriculture, sand mining in the river area and the lack of wastewater treatment in Sri Lanka.

Hydrometrie

The river is heavily influenced by the southwest monsoon. If the moist warm air is pushed to the central highlands up, the clouds rain out and produce some of devastating floods. In particular, in June it comes with heavy rain to a tenfold increase of the usual dry season runoff. The impact of the floods will be enhanced by the slight gradient in the lower two thirds of the river and through human intervention. These include deforestation and the increasing erosion related to soil sealing and not flood- friendly building.