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Gal Oya Dam

dam in Sri Lanka

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ16891495 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Gal Oya Dam (also known as Inginiyagala Dam) is an embankment dam in the Uva Province of Sri Lanka. The dam creates one of the largest reservoirs in the country, the Gal Oya Reservoir. Water from the reservoir is used primarily for irrigation in the Uva and Eastern provinces, in addition to powering a small hydroelectric power station. Construction of the dam and reservoir began in August 24, 1949 (1949-08-24), completing four years later in 1953 (1953).

Dam and reservoir

The dam is constructed between two hills at the small town of Inginiyagala, measuring 3,600 ft (1,100 m) and 140 ft (43 m) in length and height respectively, consisting of 2,000,000 cu yd (1,500,000 m3) of soil. The dam, built by Morrison-Knudsen company, creates the Gal Oya Reservoir.

The reservoir, also known as the Inginiyagala Reservoir, and more commonly as the Senanayake Samudraya (after D.S. Senanayake), has a total storage capacity of 770,000 acre⋅ft (950,000,000 m3) and a surface area of 35 mi2 (91 km2).

Power station

In addition to downstream irrigation, water from the reservoir is used to power the Inginiyagala Power Station, a hydroelectric power station located immediately downstream of the dam. The power station consists of four units of (2.475MWx2 & 3.15MWx2)11.25 MW, commissioned in 1952 unit 1,2 & 1962 unit 3,4.

See also

Electricity in Sri Lanka

Gal Oya National Park

List of dams and reservoirs in Sri Lanka

List of power stations in Sri Lanka

References

External links

Shiran Ranasinghe (31 March 2009).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gal Oya Dam” as dam in Sri Lanka. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1949, 1953, 1952, 1962—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Lanka can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as dam in Sri Lanka. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16891495. Authority coordinates are 7.210, 81.536. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1953, 1952 and 1962.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Gal Oya Dam primary sources, Gal Oya Dam archive and Lanka research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Gal Oya Dam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.