ABSTRACT
Water control was viewed as an important determinant of crop yields and of farmers' willingness to collectively act to more equitably allocate water and maintain the irrigation system. In the early 1890s, plans were initiated by the Central Irrigation Board for restoring the tanks. Restoration work was not begun on the larger Parakrama Samudra Tank until 1939. Private companies, usually European-managed, financed most of these early settlement schemes. The Polonnaruwa District exhibits a generally homogeneous population; there are no major ethnic cleavages. The Polonnaruwa area is noted for its relatively high agricultural yields. The Irrigation Department is responsible for allocating water from reservoirs to main canals and through branch canals and distributaries to field channels. The divisional irrigation engineer is in charge of the administration, financial, and technical aspects of managing one or more storage tanks, river diversion structures, sluices, spillways, service bridges, and roads.
