Sedimentary characteristics and status of water quality in Polwatta river and Weligama bay in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The Weligama Bay is a one of the rocky shorelines in the coastline of Sri Lanka and Polwatta River is the major river which enters to south part of the Bay. The study objectives were to find out the sedimentary characteristic, and water quality status in Polwatta River and Weligama bay. Results indicated that, mean water temperature, pH, NO 3

Anthropogenic nitrogen pollution threats and challenges to the health of South Asian coral reefs

“…Many industries continue to openly discharge effluents without pre-treatment directly into fresh and marine waters (UNEP, 1986;Bandara, 2003;Geekiyanage et al, 2015). Riverine habitats have undergone a rapid environmental change in response to anthropogenic activities (Amarathunga et al, 2013), whilst estuaries and coastal lagoons experience notable pollution (Gammanpila, 2010). Historically, there has been heavy national usage of fertilizers in Sri Lanka compared to other South Asian countries, with fertilizer application increasing over 30-fold between 1950 and 2000 reaching over 600,000 tons per annum (Joseph, 2003).…”

Anthropogenic impacts on vegetation diversity and spatial floral composition of the swamp forest associated with the tropical river basin

“…Gin River associated wetlands still not studied well and its diversity with complex and functions are still unknown. Recently, many reported suggests that higher suspended sediment and nutrient flowing from upper catchment to downstream because of anthropogenic activities (Amarathunga et al, 2013a ;Amarathunga et al, 2013b) and wetland are important for pollutant trapping (Rogers et al, 2009;Amarathunga and Hitinayake, 2012). Therefore, the study was conducted to understand the structure with the composition of flora in wetland and main anthropogenic activities threats to flora.…”

Behavior and Loading of Suspended Sediment and Nutrients from River Basins in the Hilly Catena Under Intensive Agriculture Cropping: A Case Study in Upper Kotmale Basin in Sri Lanka

“…Riverine habitats of Sri Lanka are rapidly being altered through many anthropogenic activities such as intensive agricultural activities, heavy agrochemical usage, damming, discharging various waste materials and industrial effluents and deforestation (Amarathunga et al, 2010a, Amarathunga et al, 2013. Several studies were conducted on water pollution and aquatic ecology in the Upper Mahaweli Catchment (UMC) in the recent past and various factors were identified as the contributing factors in deteriorating water quality in rivers and reservoirs in Sri Lanka (Sureshkumar et al, 2007;Weerasekera et al, 2009;Amarathunga et al, 2010b;Azmy et al, 2010;Shirantha et al, 2010a;Shirantha et al, 2010b).…”