| Author | Chaminda, Gajahin Gamage Tushara |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-05-9 |
| Subject(s) | Water quality--Sri Lanka--Kelani River
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Engineering, School of Environment, Resources Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Water pollution is a serious environmental issue in Sri Lanka. Pollutants such as sewage, domestic waste, fertilizers, pesticides, and industrial discharges degrade the quality of water available for human consumption. Kelani River, which is the second largest river in Sri Lanka, forms the most significant watershed in Sri Lanka due to various reasons. It flows through the economically important Western Province in which the capital city Colombo is located. Intake of water for the supply of water to the city of Colombo is located about 15 km from the river mouth. The river runs through densely populated areas and receives much organic pollution in the last 50 km stretch. The water intake located at Ambatale currently protected from further large industrial effluent discharges by a government policy not to site such industries above Ambatale. However, this decision has been made without a detail study of the basin and could lead to unnecessary constraints on industrial development in the region. Currently, river water quality monitoring program is going on to check the river water quality. Although the water quality monitoring is done at some points along the downstream of the river, the water quality modeling plays a big role in developing various scenarios of pollution management in Kelani River. In this study downstream of Kelani River was modeled for Water Quality using USEPA, QUAL2K. It is new version of widely used river model of QUAL2E. The necessary data was collected from the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB), Irrigation Department and the Meteorological Department in Sri Lanka. The river was modeled and calibrated, for Average Low Flow period and High Flow period. The calibrated and verified models were used to predict the water quality along the Kelani down stream from Awissawella to Ambatale area, and to find weather the river water quality is within required Sir Lankan standard. Special attention was given to the water intake locate at 15 km from river mouth. Calibrated and validated model was applied to find the situation in water quality with the proposed salinity barrier and new water intake. Then the detailed assessment of water quality in the river was done using the simulated results. |
| Year | 2005 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Aramaki, Toshiya |
| Examination Committee(s) | Annachchatre, Ajit P.;Babel, M. S. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Netherlands |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |