Day 24 (1) - Ancient tanks

One of the young farmers from Pattiyawela village guided me to two of the largest village tanks neighbouring my field location. One is called the Parangiyawadiya wewa ('wewa' means tank in Sinhalese); it is a large tank belonging to an ancient cascade system dating back to the hydraulic civilisation of Sri Lanka. The village that it supports is also called Parangiyawadiya, a considerably larger village in comparison to Pattiyawela. The bigger tanks usually have designated bathing spots known in Sinhala as 'Thotupala'. We walked all the way to the end of the tank, where you can walk up to the water and observe the clear water, despite the muddy clay base.

We also visited another tank, which is also neighbouring Pattiyawela, called 'Kaluwawela Wewa'. It was also quite a large tank, bordering a village and a forest. To our surprise, the farmer I was with spotted an elephant. I have to admit it took me a minute to find it as it was quite far away, but then I spotted a calf right next to it. Followed by two other elephants. This was the first time after coming to Horowpothana that I was able to see the elephants after weeks of hearing their trumpets. I was also told that the government had introduced fish into this tank for local fishing activities. However, these fish have grown to be too big for some fishing nets and were capable of tearing the nets apart. Thereby, they can only be caught when the water levels are low.

Both of these tanks are replenished by rainwater, making them vulnerable to ongoing climatic changes.