Sri Lanka plans to store and use a billion cubic meters of rainwater each year to support irrigation (灌溉)and power generation. The rainwater would go into the sea if it is not used.
Sri Lanka is building the new water management system in the country's dry zone. The area covers the northern and eastern parts of the country. It is home to about one-third of Sri Lanka's twenty million people. It is also mainly agricultural land.
Climate change has severely hurt the area in the past 10 years. The region is also suffering a severe water crisis.
Experts say the project could use enough water to fill two of the country's largest reservoirs(水库), Victoria and Randenigala.
The government and donors(捐赠人) are paying for the $675-million project. Work begins this month and should be completed by December 2024. The aim is to help the dry zone better control its water supply for power generation and farming.
The country's rainfall is 2,000 millimeters per year. Less than half falls in the dry zone. Most of the farming there depends on irrigation. Small water tanks hold water from the region's large reservoirs.
Mr. Shanmugasivanathan said the dry zone faces the extremes of floods and drought as the rain patterns have changed. But, he said there is no system in place to take flood waters, so drought can happen even in years of floods.
Lance Gore is a water resources expert with the ADB in the Philippine capital, Manila. He said the organization hopes that the new project will help end poverty in the area. The water expert said more water will increase the earning level of people dependent on agriculture. It also aims to supply safe drinking water to 350,000 people.
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