Abstract:
Kalu Ganga basin is one of the most important river basins in Sri Lanka which receives very
high rainfalls and has higher discharges. Due to its hydrological and topographical
characteristics, the lower flood plain suffers from frequent floods and it affects socioeconomic profile greatly. During the past several years, many researchers have investigated
climatic changes of main river basins of the country, but no studies have been done on
climatic changes in Kalu Ganga basin. Therefore, the objective of this study was to
investigate precipitation trends in Kalu Ganga basin. Annual and monthly precipitation
trends were detected with Mann-Kendall statistical test. Negative trends of annual
precipitation were found in all the analyzed rainfall gauging stations. As an average, -0.98
trend with the annual rainfall reduction of 12.03 mm/year was found. April and August were
observed to have strong decreasing trends. July and November displayed strong increasing
trends. In conclusion, whole the Kalu Ganga basin has a decreasing trend of annual
precipitation and it is clear that slight climatic changes may have affected the magnitude and
timing of the precipitation within the study area
