Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project

During the great king Parakiramabahu’s tenure the Island of Elam, had been the treasure island of grains for entire South East Asia.

Today cross section of Jaffna people are facing grievous water problem through many unfortunate detriments, such as mismanagement of available water resources, pollution and contamination of the same, absence of accessible fresh water source for all coastal area dwellers for whom the trouble couples with absence of proper sewage drainage etc. The situation has worsened through bureaucratic irresponsibility and ignorance particularly the past governments of the need of the northern people.

 Actually water source had – has been a crisis right from the beginning of dwelling for the people of costal area since all wells dug very closer to sea areas springs only water with salinity. Vadamaradchchy, particularly Vadamaradchchy East, and all smaller islands west to the peninsula are  worst affected, and obviously these naturally hard working people had been and have been the most migratory people within the whole Island! Most people centrally located within peninsula have been using wells and irrigation off Nilavarai bottomless Well for farming agriculture. Present Status: Mallakam District Court determined that  Northern Power Company owned by Majority community is responsible for polluting and contaminating even the centrally located fresh water resources. It has been established the power company with total ignorance to the life and ecosystem, born out of "Ape-Aanduwa" mentality spilled the burnt diesel & grease into the best fertile land area without adhering to scientific hydro-carbon removal system.

An Honourable Member of Legislature Council of 1931 K. Balasingham, who saw Jaffna peoples’ strenuous efforts for the reach of drinking water particularly above mentioned costal dwellers, proposed to the Legislature Council a project to convert all the salt water lagoons to utilizable fresh water. His proposal was based on King Parakiramabahu’s adage and on facts that the Peninsula itself is resourceful for abundant of deep under-ground water, yet lacks utilizable totally. This grievously deterrent factor never had deterred Jaffna farmers to be very successful farmers prior to the war. 

Deterrent factors never had deterred Jaffna farmers to be very successful farmers pre-war period.

The Great Parakramabahu the King, of Polonnaruwa Kingdom once avowed that he would not allow a single drop of water from the skies to reach the ocean without using it for agriculture at least once.  The king to make this valuable quote true and practical, constructed the largest Parakrama Samudra reservoir so that to capture the rain water so that to be utilized for ancient agriculture and it was no wonder during the great king’s tenure (AD1140 to1186) the Island of Elam, had been the treasure island of grains for entire South East Asia. In fact Elam was the name for the Entire Island in spoken and in literatures during King Parakiramabahu’s tenure and before.

With the dawn of independence to the island Ceylon in 1948 Deputy Director Department of Irrigation Aarumugam proposed the Project, River for Jaffna. As it had been proposed by Irrigation Engineer Aarumugam the project has been named as “Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project”, but it has been a strange fact that project itself contained and based on six facets, as the name implies, which is surely cannot be a co-incidence. The main objective of Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project is to collect the rain water predominantly 3 - 4 months of Maha Season and save it into two lakes as utilizable fresh water, otherwise the both brackish lagoons that are always increasing threat for fresh water resources and healthy life and cultivation by the dwellers.

 Utilization of Natural Resource to the Maximum

The naturally rich resourceful Kanagarayan River that originates from Omanthai, easily crosses Puliyamkulam, Mankulam, and Kilinochchy of the Vanni greater land-area before draining into the East Elephant Pass Lagoon of Chundikulam; this Chundikulam Estuary (actually two number) is the point that gives origin to Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project. Jaffna Peninsula receives rain only in the four months of the Maha Season in a year, So that the main objective of this Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project is to collect the entire four months’ rain water that wastefully drain into the seas, and save it as utilizable fresh water for the entire Vadamaradchchy East land area and for the peninsula during drier months. Kanagarayan Aru would aid in sustaining this objective.

Elephant Pass Bridge is the only point (Neck) that joints the greater Vanni Land with smaller Peninsula. This neck point water have a wonderful character within itself that forecast the success of the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project and, which as well would have surely inducted the planers to go ahead with this project! The wonderful character is, the water to the west of the narrow neck bridge is heavily salty that on evaporation give rise to salt, whereas the water to east of the bridge is fresh water, because the Kanagarayan River heavily drains off fresh water into the lagoon of the East of the bridge. At the West side of the Elephant Pass a closer barrage under the bridge would prevent the fresh water follow of the estuary mixing with the Sea in the west and as well shunt brackish water entering, is the location for the First prime facet of the project, so that the fresh water property in the East of the bridge is preserved and utilized properly. 

Elephant Pass Bridge is the only point (Neck) that joints the greater Vanni Land with smaller Peninsula. Red indicates Mulliyan Village Primary Health Care Center and far north the Vadamaradchchy Lagoon

Chundikulam 2^nd Estuary in Far East of East of the bridge lagoon drains its fresh water into the Indian Ocean through a narrow strip of land area, therefore the 2^nd important facet of the project is to construct a Dam-Spill-Gate that would prevent the wasting of fresh water off rainfall and Kanagarayan River, and would prevent flooding of the area due to over draining into the lagoon and may be the flooding of entire Northern Province as well. The third all important facet of the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project is Mulliyan Canal; a canal of 12 meter wide to the stretch of 4 KM through the Mulliyan Village north of East Elephant Pass Lake would pump the fresh water of the same lake into the Lagoon of Vadamaradchchy, within the Peninsula, thus this Mulliyan Canal is the Heart of the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project.

Lagoon of Vadamaradchchy begins from the village Aliyawalai in the south and pass through dwellings of Uduthurai, Marthunkerney, and Peninsula Lagoon Jetty, crosses Point Pedro and reaches Thondaman-Aaru before draining into the sea in closer proximity to the famous Selva-Sannidhi Murugan Temple where still the Kaparalai does and recite the Pooja similar to Katharagama Devalae, both unlike any other temple! 

 The fourth facet of the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project is constructing an appropriate Dam-Spill-Gate  at Selva-Sannidhi similar to the Chundikulam one that would serve the dual purpose of preventing the  mix of brackish water with fresh water and flooding by the over following fresh water by enabling controlled spilling in to the sea. Though the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project aims objectively to convert Vadamaradchchy Lagoon into a Freshwater Lake bordered by Selva-Sannidhi Dam spill in the north, Aliyawalai in the south and by the Vadamaradchchy Kalappu land in the East and west, yet there is a major constrain for this project, by the another salty lagoon named Uppaaru.

* Eastern Closer Barrage revitalized as Eastern Dam Spill Gate

This Uppaaru ends in Vallai west Open Plains in Vadamaradchchy itself and mixes with Vadamaradchchy Lagoon after originating from Ariyalai beach of Indian Ocean and Palk Bay South West of Jaffna Peninsula; Ariyalai is an urban area comes under Jaffna Municipal Council limits south of Jaffna Town and thus this heavily salty Uppaaru traverse the peninsula through many curls and curves north-east-wards, before opening into the Vadamaradchchy Lagoon near Vallai west Open Plains. Therefore this Uppaaru is heavily responsible for the two third of peninsula wells springing salt water and the Uppaaru impact is ever increasing.

Therefore the fifth and sixth facets of the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project are Ariyalai Closer Barrage and the Uppaaru, is actually the Final Phase of the same project, once completed the initial Phase of converting the Vadamaradchchy Lagoon into Vadamaradchchy Lake of Fresh water; a process not sustainable unless the extensively hazardous Uppaaru becomes completely a Fresh water Lake through erecting a Closer Barrage at Ariyalai. Thus it is obvious that this so called first and second phase should go on simultaneously and go for hand in hand completion.

Thondaman-Aaru Selva-Sannidhi Dam-Spill-Gate under the Irrigation Department care

Anyhow the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project was set in motion in 1950 at once, and the structures of Closer Barrages at Elephant Pass and Ariyalai and the Dam-Spill-Gate s at Chundikulam and Selva-Sannidhi Thondaman-Aaru, all have become ruins of witnessing the peninsula water resources becoming more brackish unabatedly with ever increasing intensity. There cannot be any other worst environmental catastrophe than this critical alteration of natural water sources becoming brackish and fertile lands becoming barren. Even the Mulliyan Canal dug up in 1950, to serve the fresh water into the “Vadamaradchchy Lake” from the East Elephant Pass Lake had become partially obliterated to serve as a continuous follow canal.

It is truly heartening and major relieve to note that Asian Development Bank (ADB) had come forward to finance the revived implementation of the Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project. The noticeable feature within the revitalized implementation proposal of ADB is inclusion of Sanitary Sewage Draining System, for the entire Peninsula which had been a long requirement of the peninsula, so that to prevent the pollution of underground water content by the seeping through fecal contents.   

When completed Vadamaradchchy Lagoon and Uppaaru would become two giant lakes of fresh water and pollution annihilated completely by Sanitary Sewage Draining System, Peninsula would revive the freshness of many wells and plenty of fresh water made available alleviating the long lasting water crisis and above all wells becoming salty would be prevented. Agriculture and cultivation would improve further.

The peninsula itself is a very small land area covered all around by plenty of brackish water and abundant marine and lagoon ecology to all three sides. Even in the fourth southern border only a narrow strip neck like land area otherwise all brackish and there are plenty of islands left with in the west with plenty enough to ensure the brackish/lagoon ecology, falsely feared become short of, if the project is completed. Therefore the said two inland lagoons becoming fresh water lakes would not have much ecological impact considering the above factual landscape of a smaller peninsula that just misses the definition of Small Island for Jaffna just by a strip of neck. It is reiterated here that there cannot be any other worst environmental catastrophe than the critical alteration of natural water sources becoming brackish and fertile lands becoming barren.     

Enough this 67 years of dormancy of a farsighted project that haplessly witnessed the peninsula becoming critically short of utilizable water, Reawaken the  Aarumugam River for Jaffna Project so that to completely reawaken the war torn Jaffna

Congratulations and Best wishes for all those who endeavoured to revive this revitalized project including Northern Provincial Council and C.V. Vigneswaran the Chief Minister!