Deeptha Amarathunga

Kelani River is the principal consumable water source for 80% of the population in the Colombo district and an important ecosystem complex for the freshwater fish biota of Sri Lanka. However, it is the most polluted river in the country. The present study was conducted to determine the water quality parameters and pollution of the upper and lower c...

The main objective of this study was to assess the difference of water quality of Bomuruwella reservoir before and after the dredging operations of the reservoir, which was carried out between June and September 2014. Water sampling was conducted from February to December 2014 on monthly basis at randomly selected 10 sampling locations. Dissolved o...

Microplastic (MP) pollution is a growing issue in Sri Lanka. However, few findings have been reported in the Northern coastal belt of Sri Lanka. This study provides the first evidence of the prevalence and abundance of MPs in the Northern Sri Lankan coastal waters of Mathagal, Point Pedro and Charty Beach in Jaffna. Floating MPs were collected usin...

Lanka Microplastic are emerging contaminants in the environment and it has many impacts on different sectors such as marine environment, rivers, reservoirs, soil, sediment, plants, fish, etc. Frequent maritime disasters have increased in the recent past in the Indian Ocean. Recently, X-Press Pearl ship disaster on 20 May 2021 caused unprecedented p...

Mangrove ecosystems can be considered as pools of carbon stocks as a result of sequestering, carbon stored in biomass and underlying sediments. This study assessed species diversity, community structures, and blue carbon potential and carbon dioxide equivalent in a tropical mangrove forest, Panama lagoon, Sri Lanka. The line transect method was sys...

Kelani River is the second largest watershed in Sri Lanka and the major water source for Colombo District which is the most industrialized city in the country. Kelani River is deteriorated in many ways and also could be polluted with heavy metals that can bioaccumulate through food webs and cause chronic toxicity to humans and other organisms. Ther...

Plastic particles that are less than 5 mm in dimension are referred to as microplastics (MPs). The formation of MPs can occur either by fragmentation of macroplastics (secondary MPs) or the production of micro-sized plastics (primary MPs) for intended applications. MPs have been identified as an emerging threat to the environment. MP pollution in m...

Abundance of buried microplastics in sand profiles and pellet pollution index at Sarakkuwa beach, at west-coast of Sri Lanka was studied as a case study due to the receival of plastic nurdles and debris from the MV X-Press Pearl ship disaster in May 2021. Sand collected at 7 locations to a depth of 2 m in different depths for a beach segment of 200...

The present study aimed to quantify the treatment capacities of medicinal plant materials integrated into low-cost water treatments system (LCWTS) to treat well water in the coastal regions of Jaffna and Dikowita in Sri Lanka. Terminalia arjuna roots, Strychnos potatorum seeds, and Phyllanthus emblica leaves were employed to design LCWTS. Paired t-...

Kelani River is the most polluted river in Sri Lanka and the lower catchment is more polluted than the upper catchment. In the present study, freshwater fish species of the lower catchment of the river were investigated for the use of assessing the water quality. Cast net sampling and identification recorded 34 freshwater fish species from the lowe...

The objectives of the research was to assess the coastal pollution by plastic nurdles, pyrolitic debris, associated potential toxic elements (PTEs) concentrations and mitigatory efforts by the worst ever maritime accident of a chemical and plastic boarded container vessel; MV X-press Pearl. Field sampling was carried out three times during May, Jun...

Kelani river is an important ecosystem complex for the freshwater fish biota of Sri Lanka and one of the most polluted rivers in the country. However, for Kelani River, the distribution of fish and their responses to fluctuations or stresses to water quality have not been investigated. Therefore, the study intends to analyze and compare the species...

Abstract The lagoon ecosystem of Sri Lanka has come under pressure from agricultural, fisheries and other development activities in recent decades. The Panama lagoon (6° 45' - 6° 46' N and 81° 48' - 81° 49' E) has been identified as a relatively pristine, shallow coastal lagoon in the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka. It is of high ecological importance...

The Kelani river, is the second longest and most polluted river in Sri Lanka which subjected to many pollution studies. The present study was conducted to evaluate the water quality results obtained for upper catchment of Kelani river using multivariate statistical techniques to understand the correlation of selected parameters. Water quality param...

Peoples are often used their extra land for the cultivation of annual crops. Most of the farmers used agrochemicals for their farming lands. Also, tea plantations were used agrochemicals for their cultivations. The excess agrochemicals drain with runoff and ultimately end up with a shallow or deep reservoir. The Gregory Lake is located in the Nuwar...

Water scarcity, inappropriate sanitation and wastewater pollution are critically important issues in most of the coastal regions in Sri Lanka. Both shallow and deep groundwater is frequently brackish, and fresh water wells have been increasingly salinized by tidal fluctuation and seepage mostly in dry seasons. Sandy soil increase the contamination...

Phytoplankton are photosynthetic, single celled and drifting or floating organism size ranging 0.2µm to 200µm. They play a major role in the global carbon cycle. Some phytoplankton are toxic for the human and animal and release toxins into marine water called marine biotoxin. These toxic-chemicals accumulate in the animal bodies and transfer to the...

This status report developed by the Land Resource Division of the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment of Sri Lanka is released on the occasion of launching of the United Nations Global Campaign on Sustainable Nitrogen Management through a High-Level Segment and Science–Policy–Political Dialogue, to be held from 23-24 October 2019 in Co...

The small fish stall’s are releasing their fish effluent containing wastewater into the natural environment without any appropriate treatment. There is less attention to treat the wastewater generated from those small scale fisheries. Therefore, study objective is to construct an artificial wetland to reduce pollution from fish wastewater by small...

Fisheries industry plays an important role in the economy of Sri Lanka by providing livelihood for more than 2.5 million coastal communities and more than 50% of animal protein requirement of the people in the country. Beruwala fishery harbour contributes highly to the fish landings in Kalutara District of the country. However, there are limited st...

A study of dredging impacts on water quality in Bomuruella Reservoir, Nuwara Eliya Hettige, N.D. 1*, Weerasekara, K.A.W.S.1, Amaratunga, A.A.D.1 1Environmental Studies Division, National Aquatic Resource Research and Development Agency (NARA), Crow Island, Colombo 15, Sri Lanka. *Corresponding author: Email – nadeeshahettige7@gmail.com Abstract...

Abstract Dedduwa is economically and ecologically important natural water body located in Bentota, Sri Lanka and this water body is inter connected with the sea. This study was conducted to understand the nutrient behaviour in the Dedduwa estuary and to study its impact on the aquatic environment. Water samples, sediment samples and plankton sampl...

Oil spill incidents occur due to various natural and anthropogenic activities in the world with devastating impacts on surrounding ecosystems perhaps, with irreparable losses. Two major oil spill incidents are recorded in the Sri Lanka recent pass at Koggala and Lunawa lagoon at Theldiyawatta, Muthurajawela of Sri Lanka on 8th September 2006 and 31...

To understand pesticide loading from farmlands, evaluation of farmers' perceptions and land use patterns of pesticide loading from the upper catena of the tropical tributary river study was conducted using Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), which utilized semi-structured questionnaire surveys and key personnel interviews to collect data from the farmers...

Histamine, a biogenic amine is a chemical hazard in fish and histamine food poisoning is found to be associated with high level consumption of scombroid fish, such as skipjack tuna. The present study tries to investigate the histamine levels in skipjack tuna by using a gravimetric and colourimetric methods, as simple and rapid methods. Skipjack tun...

Chlorpyrifos is a highly toxic organo-phosphorous insecticide and its fate and mobility are influenced by volatilization, leaching, adsorption, and degradation etc. This research study is focused on the adsorption process of Chlorpyrifos and its impact to aquatic invertebrates after the adsorption. Four soil samples were obtained from different loc...

Diazinon is an organophosphate categorized under insecticide. When pesticides are applied, they are subjected to different complex processes and there is lack of understanding of pesticide behaviour under tropical conditions. Adsorption is one of the main processes of the pesticide behavior and part of the pesticide is adsorbed onto soil. The main...

The Gin river wetland marsh has been identified as one of the most dynamic ecosystem in Sri Lanka, providing habitats for associated floral and faunal communities under a permanent or temporary accumulation of water. Study was focused to understand the structure, composition and threats of the Ginthota wetland marsh, by identifying the biodiversity...

Abstract: There has been a considerable amount of research investigating suspended sediment (SS) and water quality in river basins. However, there has been less attention to the suspended sediment behaviour in tropical river basins, especially in Sri Lanka. The Gin river basin is one of the major river basins in Sri Lanka and catchments consist of...

Coastal water bodies in the North Western Province (NWP) of Sri Lanka are highly utilized for shrimp farming, fisheries activities, recreational activities and bathing. Objectives of the study were assess the current water pollution status of selected coastal areas located in the NWP , to identify the factors affecting for water pollution and to id...

Phytoplankton diversity and abundance changes as a function of physico-chemical parameters in aquatic ecosystem; hence these may serve as indicators of water quality. The objective of the study was to determine the diversity and distribution of phytoplankton in relation to the water quality of the Batticaloa lagoon. Sampling was carried out on a mo...

Panadura estuary situated in the western province in Sri Lanka where Bolgodalake opens into Indian Ocean harbours a lot of aquatic biodiversity. Therefore, main objective of this study was to identify the diversity of benthic macro-invertebrates, to assess the correlation between physico-chemical parameters and macro-benthic invertebrate diversity...

Maduganga lagoon is the third Ramsar wetland in Sri Lanka which is located in Galle district.Due to various recreational activitiesbiodiversity of wetland is facing a threat of pollution. The present study was to evaluate pollution levels in Maduganga lagoon with respect to physico-chemical water quality parameters and diversity of benthic macro in...

The objective of this study was to determine the current status of water quality in three selected fishery harbours named Hikkaduwa, Galle, and Hambantota located in the Southern coastal stretch of the country. It also aimed to provide recommendations to prevent harbour water pollution and minimize post-harvest loses due to spoilage and finally to...

Uma Oya, which has the highest watershed of the Upper Mahaweli discharges into Rantambe reservoir. Uma Oya may have been polluted as it drains a large portion of agricultural lands. A preliminary study was conducted from April to October, 2007 sampling six randomly selected sites to determine the status of water quality of Uma Oya as baseline data....

Many different models were developed to simulate the downstream toxicity by applying upstream pesticide concentrations. However, model parameters such as land use on pesticide loading and photodegradation of pesticide under high concentrated suspended sediments are rarely being assessed. Therefore, this study conducted to elucidate the downstream p...

A sudden appearance of dead fish in an aquatic environment is a sign of environmental stress and most people believe that the fish have been poisoned of the water body. Factors that promote fish kills include rapid loss of oxygen or sudden increase of ammonia, temperature, cloud cover, algal blooms, and thermal stratification. The main objective of...

The pressure on the environment has been increased due to pollution in coastal area in Sri Lanka during the last few decades. The coastal stretch of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka is haphazardly used by coastal communities and is highly vulnerable to coastal pollution due to increasing urbanization and industrialization activities. Water quality...

Land exploitation in several developing countries, including tropical areas, has caused a rapid change of the landscape, from forest to farms. This has led to an increase of pesticide use and concentration of suspended matter in river waters, which may cause soil erosion of these areas. Humic acid (HA), one of the main components in the soil partic...

Suspended matter and nutrient are major factors for water pollution studies and this study is focused on behavior and loading of suspended sediment and nutrient in Upper Kotmale Basin (UKB). Nanu Oya, Dambagasthalawa Oya and Agra Oya are three major streams fed by Kotmale Oya proper in UKB. Eight sampling locations were selected considering all maj...

The Weligama Bay is a one of the rocky shorelines in the coastline of Sri Lanka and Polwatta River is the major river which enters to south part of the Bay. The study objectives were to find out the sedimentary characteristic, and water quality status in Polwatta River and Weligama bay. Results indicated that, mean water temperature, pH, NO 3 --N,...

The Madu Ganga Lagoon is located in the Southern Coast, Northwest of the city of Galle within the Galle District. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pollution status of the lagoon and the contribution of the land base pollutants from the catchment of the Madu Ganga. Selected water quality parameters were measured at monthly intervals at twel...

This study focused to identify the current status of water quality in Giant's Tank in Akurala water bodies and Puttalam Lagoon of Sri Lanka during the year 2011. In-situ analysis was conducted for the determination of pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Turbidity, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and Salinity. Laboratory analysis w...

A study was conducted in Tebuwana Wathurana wetland ecosystem to understand its vegetation structure and faunal composition in order to assess its conservation needs. As there are no published records on the flora and fauna of Wathurana wetlands in Tebuwana, it is necessary to understand the ecological and other relevant features in order to develo...

Madu Ganga is the latest addition to the Ramsar International Convention of Wetlands. Najas marina is an alien aquatic plant and 0.5 m long that are often branched toward the upward portion of the plant. The objective of the study was to study the impact of salinity and nutrients for the growth of Najas marina. Samples were collected for analysed w...

Sri Lanka is an island and coastal region of the country accommodates about 4.6 million people, which is about one fourth of the total population. This has resulted in the concentration of a large share of urban growth and development activities within this area, as reflected by a high rate of construction activity-particularly in the Western Provi...