Impacts of climate change on water resources in Sri Lanka

Anthropogenically induced climate change is expected to influence rainfall and temperature. Therefore this study focuses on the climate change impacts on soil moisture deficits which will have serious impacts on the water resources. Climate change datasets for Sri Lanka were derived using outputs from the UK Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research model (HadCM3) for selected IPCC SRES scenarios for the 2050s and compared with the baseline data from IWMI.Under the scenarios tested, there will be a slight increase in annual average rainfall because of an increase in rainfall during the south west monsoon. But the north east monsoon rains decrease. Similarly the annual average temperature increases. These changes in rainfall and temperature, together with other climatic factors, would increase the maximum annual soil moisture deficit significantly in the dry zone areas, demanding higher irrigation need. The major food production activities in these zones would then be at risk.