A River For Jaffna

By Thiru  Arumugam -June 23, 2013 

Thiru Arumugam

Jaffna Peninsula has an area of 1000 square km and being flat has no rivers and is totally dependent on the annual rainfall of about 1270 mm, of which about 87% falls during the north-east monsoon from October to December, for recharge of the water table in the underground aquifer.  In the past, water was drawn from wells for domestic and agricultural use by well sweeps, but from the 1950’s onwards pumps have been used to draw water from these wells.  There are nearly 100,000 wells in the Peninsula. This over pumping for agricultural use has drawn down the fresh water stored in the limestone aquifer resulting in sea water percolating into the wells through the fractured limestone, as no part of Jaffna is more than about 15 km from the sea. At present about 30% of the wells in the Jaffna Peninsula are saline. Recent reports from agricultural experts state that more than 4500 hectares of fertile agricultural land have turned saline and have become unsuitable for cultivation.

KEY POINTS of the RIVER for JAFFNA Project

A River for Jaffna by nelvely