Engineer M.S. M. de Silva on Samanalawewa Leakage

-

 Engineer M.S. M. de Silva on Samanalawewa Leakage 

Gintota was the hometown of many prominent families in the Southern Province. Three families were close neighbours & lived near the Gintota Railway Station. :
K. C. Juanis de Silva, "....................",  255, Galle Rd. Gintota
M. S. Simon de Silva, "Sirigiri", .........,  Galle Rd. Gintota
A. W. P. Don Davith de Silva, "Sirinivasa", 264 , Galle Rd. Gintota

There were outstanding personalities in subsequent generations of each family, & this post is about the eldest son of M. S. Simon De Silva &   Nandawathie Wickremasooriya - London qualified Chartered Engineer, M. S. M. De Silva, an expert in earth dam construction , who was associated with the Gal Oya, Uda Walawe & Mahaveli Multi-purpose Reservoir Projects & other similar Projects elsewhere.

The article reproduced below appeared in the Island Newspaper on 12 April 1994 & is written by M. S. M himself & highlights his contribution as an Engineer as well as his informed comments on a leakage that arose during the time of the construction of the Samanalawewa reservoir, & which persists to this day.

Read more about the Samanalawewa water leak  here :
1. An article published on 4 September, 2023.
https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/CEB-bleeds-Rs-2-7-Billion-over-Samanala-Wewa-Reservoirs-water-leak/108-266462

2. An article published on 26 August, 2012 by Dr. Janak Ratnasiri
https://archive.internationalrivers.org/resources/samanalawewa-leak-–-engineering-blunder-or-a-blessing-7666


Water Leakage
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons



Samanalawewa Dam & Reservoir
Courtesy Facebook









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Highlights of a Hundred Years at St. Aloysius College, Galle

-
Image
  Highlights of a  Hundred Years  at St. Aloysius College, Galle K. K. de Silva, as Compiler …….  (at Sacred Heart Convent: 1943-44; then at SAC:1945 -1958; on Staff in 1959)  … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi Based on  Articles in the Aloysian Centenary Souvenir, &  images in Aloysian Magazines featured in L. K. Hettiarachhi's &  Shanuka Perera's  FB Pages  & other Sources. Introduction St. Aloysius College & St. Mary’s Cathedral stand together on Mount Calvary Hill, known in earlier times as ‘Poraka kande’ or Gibbet Hill, in Galle. The Hill was the place where executions were carried out during Dutch rule, & Hemantha Situge, a distinguished old Aloysian, refers to its  significance in his blog of 31 Dec. 2012 titled “The Scaffold City Galle”. Later , during Dutch rule, a church was constructed at the premises where the Cathedral is today & it had also been used as a school hall, acc...
Read more

The Gal Oya Valley Scheme & the People who made it a Reality

-
Image
The Gal Oya Valley Scheme & the People who made it a Reality KK De Silva,  who was an employee of the RVDB from 1967-1979 Introduction     Sir James Emerson Tennent, Colonial Secretary from 1845 to 1850, at page 432 of his book,  Account of the Island of Ceylon … .. Vol. II says that on a visit to the Horra-bora Tank (Soraborawewa ), then in ruins, he was so impressed with its magnificense & potential for rice cultivation that after subsequent inspections of other ancient tanks in the Northern Division , he proposed in 1848 that measures be taken to restore important ancient reservoirs by legislative action; his proposal was approved, but action delayed due to unavoidable circumstances, possibly the 1848 uprising, & legislation was introduced later, when Sir Henry Ward was Governor, by way of the Irrigation Ordinance No. 9 of 1856 . Soraborawewa was restored in 1876. (Arumugam,1969). The Irrigation Department was establi...
Read more

Highlights of the Jesuit Era at St. Aloysius College, Galle (www.thuppahis.com )

-
Image
  K.K.de Silva, as Compiler …….  (at Sacred Heart Convent: 1943-44; then at SAC:1945 -1958; on Staff in 1959)  … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi Introduction St. Aloysius College & St. Mary’s Cathedral stand together on Mount Calvary Hill, known in earlier times as ‘Poraka kande’ or Gibbet Hill, in Galle. The Hill was the place where executions were carried out during Dutch rule, & Hemantha Situge, a distinguished old Aloysian, refers to its  significance in his blog of 31 Dec. 2012 titled “The Scaffold City Galle”.   Later , during Dutch rule, a church was constructed at the premises where the Cathedral is today & it had also been used as a school hall, according to Sagara Jayasinghe in  Dwelling of Faith.pdf p.13.   He points out that a 1795 map of Galle shows a small church, the church of Holy Rosary, the first to be built on Mount Calvary.  Could the image below, titled ” Distant View of the Catholic Church...
Read more