Yodha Ela (Giant Canal)

Yoda Ela (Giant Canal) or Jaya Ganga, an 87 km (54 mi) long single
banking water canal carrying excess water from Kala Wewa reservoir
to Thissa Wewa reservoir in Anuradhapura. The Yodha Ela is known
for achieving a rather low gradient for its time. The gradient is about
10 centimetres per kilometre or 6 inches per mile
Yodha Ela was constructed during King Dathusena's reign in 459 AD.
It is 87 km (54 mi) long. It is a trans-basin diversion canal transferring
water from Kala Oya Basin to Malwathu Oya Basin, but because of the
mild slope to which it had been constructed. Its mild-gradient had
been found to be of the order of 0.32 m (1.0 ft) drop along 1.61 km
(1.00 mi). Even with the modern day survey equipment achieve the
said accuracy.
Yodha Ela functions in a way of a moving reservoir because of its
single banking aspect which is different from the present day double
banking irrigation canals'. It feeds water in an area of 470 km2
(180 sq mi) feeding 4,630 ha (11,400 acres) of paddy lands and 120
small tanks on its way from Kala Wewa to Tissa Wewa
Yoda Ela or Jaya Ganga, an 87 km long water canal carrying excess
water from Kala Wewa in Polonnaruwa to ThissaWewa in
Anuradhapura, is a construction dependent on remarkable
instrumentation precision.Its gradient of10 to 20 cm per kilometre
still baffles experts today for its minute precision.
More over the ingenuity of ancient engineers is also exhibited in how
Yoda Ela was designed as an elongated reservoir, which passes
through traps creating sixty six mini-catchments as it flows from Kala
Wawa to Thissa Wawa. The canal was not designed for the quick
conveying of water from Kala Wawa to Thissa Wawa but to create
mass of water between the two reservoirs, which would in turn
provided for agriculture and the use of humans and animals.
Another unique feature of the Yoda Ela is that the canal has only one
bund to manage the canal pressure with the influx of water. Two
bunds would have increased the pressure causing damage while with
one bund the water spreads on the upper side and releases the
pressure creating no danger to the bund. Built along the contours the
canal collects and dispenses water throughout its 87 km flow length.
Many a features had been added to the canal since its construction.
King Parakramabahu who governed the country nearly 700 years
after the Yoda Wawa, reconstructed the canal added more feeders to
the canal starting from thirtyfour reservoirs found between Kala
Wawa and Thissa Wawa, re-naming it Jaya Ganga or the river of
victory.
The extra water from these tanks would be fed to the canal which
would distribute it in an area of 180 square miles feeding 11,400
acres of paddy lands and 120 small tanks.
However part of this ingenious creation was destroyed during the
attempts to create a second Jaya Ganga under the Mahaweli
Development Project causing dearth of water to some parts of the dry
zone while measures are now been taken to reverse the damage done
to an engineering marvel of ancient Sri Lanka.