BSc Eng (SL), PhD (UNSW), CEng, MIE (SL)

Address:
Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Moratuwa,
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

e mail:   sunilw@civil.mrt.ac.lk        

Telephone: +94-11-2650567-8(Ext.2015)
Fax:           + 94-11-2651216

       Profile
       Qualifications
       Specialization
       Professional Affiliations
       Other Assignments

       Special Awards
       Work and Other Experience
       Research Interests
       Recent Projects and Publications     

• Associate Professor, Hydraulic & Water Resources Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa
  

• BSc Eng. (Hons) (SL)
• PhD (UNSW)
• CEng, MIE (SL)

Back to top

Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering - awarded Ph.D, University of New South Wales.

Other areas of training - Land Drainage (Netherlands), Irrigation and Soil Management (Israel) and Remote Sensing ( Sweden)

Back to top

(b) Member of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS).

Back to top

a.) Country Representative for Sri Lanka - Task Force for Developing Countries (TFDC-101), Int. Association of Hydrologcal Sciences (IAHS).

b.) Member of the Review Panel - Dam Safety and Water Resources Planning Project (DSWRPP), Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management .

c.) Member of the Review Panel - Climate Resilience Improvement Project (CRIP), Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management (2016 - ).

Back to top

( a )  Colombo Plan Fellowship for Doctoral  Studies at the University of New South Wales,  Australia (1977-1981). 

(b ) Post-Doctoral Fulbright Fellowship ,North Carolina State University, USA ( 1992/93) 

(c) Water Related Infrastructure - ANTON/IESL Award for Paper on ‘Renewable Energy Based  Water Lifting Devices' organized by the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (1996). 

(d)  IESL/IWMI Award for Best Paper on the theme “Water Resources Development and Future Challenges - Role of Engineering and  Technology” - “ Challenges in Dam Safety and Extreme Rainfall Estimation in Relation to Sri Lanka” ( 2011). 

(e) Three Awards received as Grants - Project on Hydraulic Ram Pumps for Sri Lanka (  British High Commission 1992-1994), Workshop on Remote Sensing and GIS (Ausaid, 1995) and for Visiting Scientist from India ( India - Sri Lanka Foundation 2011/2012) 

(f) Recipient of four awards from the University of Moratuwa for long and meritorious service to the University.

(g) Other Awards - For advanced training programs in the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden and India.

(h) NRC Merit Award for Scientific Publication - National Research Council , Sri Lanka ,2011.

(i) Special Recognition for NRC Merit Award, University of Moratuwa, 2014.

Back to top

(b) CONSULTANT HYDROLOGIST - Served as Consultant Hydrologist with Jacobs Gibb (UK), on the Dam Safety and Reservoir Conservation Project funded by the World Bank ( 2003/2004). Presently a Member of the Dam Safety Review Panel of the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management under the Dam Safety and Water Resources Planning Project ( 2009 - )

(c) HEAD - Hydraulic Engineering Division - Department of Civil Engineering , University of Moratuwa ( 1994-2001).

(d )COORDINATOR - Mentoring Program of the University of Moratuwa ( 2006 - )

(e) Resource Person - International Course in Micro-Hydropower organized by ITDG (UK) and Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka.(1991).

(f) Principal Investigator - Project on Hydraulic Ram Pumps for Sri Lanka funded by the British High Commission. This work won a special award from the Institution of Engineers (Sri Lanka), for work on ‘Water Related Infrastructure’.(1994-1996).

(g) Resource Person - Workshop on Design of Irrigation Headworks, Irrigation Training Institute , Galgamuwa, Sri Lanka ( 1998).

(h) National Water Conference - Chairman - Session on Water Management Challenges, Sri Lanka , 1998.

(i) Member - National Steering Committee on Climatic Forecasting and Applications in Water Resources Management ( 2003 )

(j) Invited Guest Seminar - Hydrological Aspects of Dam Safety in Relation to Sri Lanka. ICE WaRM Seminar Series - Int. Center of Excellence in Water Resources Management, University of South Australia, Nov. 2010.

(k)Resource Person - Workshop on Probable Maximum Precipitation and Probable Maximum Flood Calculation in Relation to Dam Safety. Irrigation Department, Colombo, March 2013.

(l) Resource Person - Presentation on "The History of Super Cyclones in Sri Lanka". Workshop on Super Cyclone Mitigation. General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University , August 2014.

(m) Reviewer - "Accelerated Regional Development", Jaffna University International Research Conference, December 2014.

Back to top

-          Hydrological aspects of dam safety

-          Rainfall - Runoff Modeling

-         Hydrological extremes and design flood estimation

-          Reservoir design and yield estimation

-          Hydrological impacts of climate change

-          Stochastic hydrology

-          Social and Environmental effects of large water resources development projects

-          Drought mitigation using rainwater harvesting

Back to top

Probabilistic Modelling of Extreme Rainfall Events within the Wet Zone of Sri Lanka, 20th Congress of the Asia Pasific Division of the International Association for Hydro Environment Engineering & Research, IAHRAPD , Colombo, 2016.

Extreme Value Analysis of Annual Maximum Rainfall Data in Colombo and Anuradhapura. Proceedings of Civil Engineering Research Symposium , University of Moratuwa, 2015.

Climate Change Adaptation : A Hydraulic Model Study to Improve the Spillway Discharge of Giritale Reservoir. Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference, MERCon 2015.

Tropical Cyclone Damages in Sri Lanka. Wind Engineers, JAWE, Vol.40, No.3 (No.144), July 2015.

Challenges in Dam Safety and Extreme Rainfall Estimation in Relation to Sri Lanka . Engineer - Vol xxxxv, No.01, pp. [39-49], 2012

 The Hydro-meteorological Estimation of Probable Maximum Precipitation under varying scenarios in Sri Lanka. Int. J .Climatol, 31 : 668 - 676 (2011)

 Reliable Estimates of Probable Maximum Precipitation for Disaster Risk Reduction.  Int. Conf. on Building Resilience ( Kandalama), University of Salford, (2011).

 Improved Procedures for Estimating Rainfall Extremes. National Symposium on Promoting Knowledge Transfer to Strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. Disaster Management Center, SLAAS and UNDP, Colombo, Sri Lanka (2009).

 A Statistical Approach for Estimating Probable Maximum Precipitation for Sri Lanka. Proceedings of the International Statistics Conference, Applied Statistics Association of Sri Lanka, Colombo , Sri Lanka (2009).

 Estimating Extreme Rainfall in Sri Lanka under Monsoonal and Cyclonic Environments. Exploring New Spheres for a Better Future, Annual Symposium, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. (2009). 

Rain Water Harvesting for Water Efficiency and Management. Proc. of the Int. Conf. on Sustainable Built Environments. Kandy, 2010. 

Rain Water Harvesting in Sri Lanka. Economic Review, People's Bank Publication. (2009). 

Estimating Probable Maximum Precipitation - From Research to Design.  Engineer, Journal of the Institution of Engineers, ( 2007). 

Some Hydrological Issues in the Assessment of Dam Safety. Annual Trans. Institution of Engineers , (2004). 

Some Issues in the Estimation of Probable Maximum Precipitation. Proceedings of the Int. Conference on Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Changing Environment of the Monsoon Region. United Nations University, Colombo, Sri Lanka. (2004). 

Assessment of Adequacy of Spillways for Dam Safety and Reservoir Conservation in Sri Lanka . Int. Conference on Hydrology: Science and Practice for the 21^st. Century, British Hydrological Society , London, UK. (2004). 

Developing an Annual Rainfall Runoff Model for Wet Zone Catchments in Sri Lanka (2008) 

Modeling Runoff Characteristics of the Minneriya and Nachchaduwa Catchments and Simulation of the 1957 Floods. (2008). 

Drought Mitigation and Water Conservation Practices Using Rainwater Harvesting in the Wet and Dry Zones of Sri Lanka (2008) 

Hydrological Aspects of Dam Safety - 32 Reports prepared with Jacobs Gibb (UK) assessing the adequacy of spillways. Dam Safety and Reservoir Conservation Project, Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka. (2003/2004).

Back to top