Kelani River

The Kelani at Kitulgala

The Kelani is a river in south-west of Sri Lanka. It flows through the districts of Kegalle and Colombo. It is formed by the confluence of the Maskalaiya Oya Oya and Kehelgamuwa are their sources in the wetlands of the central highlands of Sri Pada on. It ends in the city of Colombo in the Indian Ocean. The river is heavily burdened by extensive agriculture, sand mining in the river area and the lack of wastewater treatment in Sri Lanka.

Use

The river is suitable for various economic sectors of importance. In addition to irrigation and fishing, transportation, sand mining and hydroelectric power plants are to be mentioned. To which he plays a big role in the drinking water supply of Colombo. There are plans for up to 350 million cubic kilometers per year from its headwaters to pass through a 6.5 km tunnel in the Mahaweli River System.

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.

The data presented in the graph were taken at the measuring station Hanwella 1973-2004, about 20 km above the mouth of the Kelani. The observed there flow was fed by the largest part of the catchment area of the river.

The average monthly flow of the river Kelani measured in million cubic meters / month (1973 - 2004)

Depending on the progress of the monsoon, the annual runoff can vary considerably. At the site in Glencourse at about 1462 km ² of the catchment area were 1948-1993 measured on average per year 4.565 billion cubic kilometers (MCM ) with a standard deviation of 895 MCM at a minimum of 2655 MCM in 1984 and a maximum of 6556 MCM in in 1976.

Special

For the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, the wooden bridge at Kitulgala was rebuilt over the Kelani. It consisted of 1,200 bamboo pipes, was 35 meters high and 130 meters long. Thus, the bridge was the largest ever bridge scenery in film history. It was blown up during the filming of the final scene, during an unoccupied train drove away about them.

Pictures

A print from Ernst Haeckel's 1905 hiking pictures

Was the place where in the movie The Bridge