Lake · Sri Lanka
Senanayake Samudraya
Senanayake Samudraya is the biggest reservoir in Sri Lanka, a man-made lake in the east of the island. It was created when a dam was built across the Gal Oya river.
Picture credit: AntanO (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Senanayake Samudraya?
Countries on its shores: Sri Lanka.
Largest body of water of: Sri Lanka.
Middle of the lake: 7.19° N, 81.48° E
The story behind it
Sri Lanka has no natural lake of this size; its biggest lakes are man-made, and this reservoir is the largest of them all. Work on the Gal Oya Dam began in 1949 and was finished in 1953. The dam is 43 metres high and about 1 100 metres long. Behind it, the water covers about 91 km² and holds about 950 million cubic metres. The lake is named after D. S. Senanayake, the first prime minister of Sri Lanka. Its water flows to the farms in the dry east of the island, and a small power station makes electricity. The lake lies in Gal Oya National Park, and visitors can cross it by boat. Birds nest on Bird's Island in the reservoir, and cormorants, darters, grey herons and whistling ducks live on the water. A herd of elephants can be seen in the park all year round.
Find it on the globe
Senanayake Samudraya is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Senanayake Samudraya?
The reservoir covers about 91 km² and holds about 950 million cubic metres of water. It is the largest body of water ever created in Sri Lanka.
Who is the lake named after?
It is named after D. S. Senanayake, the first prime minister of Sri Lanka. The project was completed in 1953, during his time.
Why was the dam built?
The water is used mainly to water fields in the dry east of Sri Lanka. A power station at the dam also makes electricity.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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