Making modern water: The content, actors, and processes of embedding the Mahaweli Development Project in Sri Lanka (1963–2010)

Abstract

Existing literature has established a clear connection between large-scale water projects and modernist development, but further exploration is needed to empirically demonstrate how this connection materializes in specific cases. Focusing on one of the world's largest and most ambitious water projects carried out in Sri Lanka, we demonstrate how the hydrosocial paradigm of ‘modern water’ created conceptual and practical linkages between mega water projects and modernist development. Drawing on policy transfer and mobility literature, we articulate how the co-constitution of modern water and development enabled the global flow of modernist water ideals. We highlight the content, actors, and processes that drive this flow, demonstrating the embedding of modern water within Sri Lanka's hydrosocial landscape. We also draw attention to how contemporary water policies remain shaped by mid-20th century water-development projects, both ideologically and materially. This shows the endurance of modern water, even as the restoration of alternative water management systems becomes central to policy discussions in Sri Lanka. Our findings add insights into the spatio-temporal patterns of modern water, enhancing existing scholarship on policy transfer, mobility, and mega water-development projects.