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Kala Wewa

The 928th tallest dam in the world

m

Kala Wewa (Sinhala:කලා වැව), built by King Datusena in 460 CE, is a reservoir complex consisting of two reservoirs, Kala Wewa and Balalu Wewa. It has the capacity to store 123 million cubic meters of water. The reservoir complex includes a stone made spillway and three main sluices. The main central sluice, 40 feet wide, supplies water to thousands of acres of paddy fields and ends at Tissa Wewa, in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, having meandered over 87 km (54 mi) at a slope of 6 inches per mile. The hydraulic engineering reflects the advanced technology that existed in ancient Sri Lanka.

Dam data from Wikidata (CC0) plus curated additions. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

More dams in Sri Lanka

  1. Moragahakanda Dam185 m
  2. Kantale Dam m
  3. Kotmale Dam m
  4. Kukule Ganga Dam m
  5. Maskeliya Dam m

Other tall dams worldwide

  1. Rogun Dam · Tajikistan335 m
  2. Shuangjiangkou Dam · China312 m
  3. Norak Dam · Tajikistan300 m
  4. Grande Dixence dam · Switzerland285 m
  5. Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam · Russia245 m
  6. Oroville Dam · United States234.7 m
  7. Bhakra Dam · India225.6 m
  8. Hoover Dam · United States221 m