The Iranamadu tank is a large reservoir about six kilometres away from the Kilinochchi town in the Northern Province. The tank is fed by Kanakarayan Aru that originates from the Chemadukulam in Vavuniya. It runs 60 Kilometres through Mankulam in Mullaitivu.
The nameboard
Both local and foreign tourists never fail to visit this reservoir on their way to the Jaffna peninsula.
Construction work on the tank was started in 1902 by the Irrigation Department on a proposal made by the then Director of Irrigation T.S. Ward. Work on the tank which started by joining two low lying swamps of the Kanakarayan Aru, was completed in 1921. Construction work was carried out manually and the labourers were housed in a new colony, present day Kilinochchi.
The name of the tank was derived from the Tamil words – for the two(iranai) and pond (madu.)
In the 1940’s a severe drought in the Jaffna islands resulted in a large number of people migrating to Kilinochchi where they were given free land to cultivate near the Iranamadu tank. In 1950, the tank bund was raised to hold 30 feet of water increasing the storage capacity to 71,000 acre feet. The tank was renovated in 1954 by raising the bund to 32 feet to give a storage capacity of 82,000 acre feet, and it was inaugurated by the then Minister of Irrigation and Lands Dudley Senanayake.
An Army Officer outlining the history of the tank to the visitors
In 2006, the Government implemented a new plan to supply water to the Jaffna peninsula. It was called the Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project which involved drawing water from Iranamadu tank and transferring – via pipelines to the peninsula.
During the war in the 1990’s, the LTTE caders had used the tank for landing sea planes. The tank was again renovated in 2018 and it was inaugurated by the then President Maithripala Sirisena. The Northern Provincial Council has taken steps to develop the fishing industry in the tank. At present, 50 canoes are used in the tank enabling a fair number of resettled civilians in the area to make a living and uplifting their livelihood while raising their income level through fishing industry.
Iranamadu is the first new tank built by the Department of Irrigation other than restoration of 59 ancient irrigation tanks in the area. Nearly 30,000 acres of paddy in the Kilinochchi district are cultivated under this tank.
