The Upper Wardha Dam is an
earthfill straight
gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
dam across the
Wardha River
The Wardha River, also known as the Varada River, is a major river in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, which originates in the Satpura Range and flows into the Wain ganga river to form the Pranhita river which finally joins the Godavari river.
Origin
...
, a tributary of the
Godavari River, near
Simbhora village in
Morshi
Morshi is the second largest town in the Amravati district of Maharashtra, India. It is located 55 km north-east of Amravati, situated very close to the border with Madhya Pradesh, in the scenic southern foothills of the Satpura ranges. ...
taluk in
Amravati
Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buld ...
district in the
Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepen ...
of
Maharashtra. The dam provides multipurpose benefits of irrigation, drinking water supply,
flood control
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
and hydropower generation.
The Upper Wardha Dam is also known as the Nala Damayanti Sagar, named after the famous characters
Nala and
Damayanti
''Damayanti'' (Sanskrit: दमयंती) is a character in a love story found in the Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of Bhima (not the Pandava one) and a princess of the Vidarbha Kingdom, who married King Nala of ...
of an epic love story in
Hindu mythology,
Nala and
Damayanti
''Damayanti'' (Sanskrit: दमयंती) is a character in a love story found in the Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of Bhima (not the Pandava one) and a princess of the Vidarbha Kingdom, who married King Nala of ...
.
[
The multipurpose Upper Wardha Dam project is considered the lifeline for ]Amravati
Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buld ...
city, and Morshi and Warud Talukas. It is an integral component of the Upper Wardha Irrigation Project, which envisages providing water for irrigation, drinking water supply and for industrial use and also flood control. Hydropower generation is planned only when irrigation develops.
Geography
The Wardha River, across which the Upper Wardha Dam is built, is a tributary of the Godavari River. From its origin, at an altitude of in Satpura Range
The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these ...
from the Multai plateau in Betul District of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
, the river flows in Madhya Pradesh and then enters into Maharashtra near the Multai plateau of the Satpuda range. It flows along the entire northern and western border of the Wardha district
Wardha district (Marathi pronunciation: əɾd̪ʰaː is in the state of Maharashtra in western India. This district is a part of Nagpur Division. The city of Wardha is the administrative headquarters of the district. Hinganghat, Pulgaon, Ar ...
. After traversing , it joins Wainganga River
The Wainganga is a river in India originating in the Mahadeo Hills in Mundara near the village Gopalganj in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh. It is a key tributary of the Godavari. The river flows south in a winding course through the states of Madhya Prade ...
and together it is called the Pranhita
The Pranhita River is the largest tributary of Godavari River covering about 34% of its drainage basin conveying the combined waters of the Penganga River, the Wardha River, and the Wainganga River. By virtue of its extensive network of tribu ...
, which ultimately flows into the Godavari River. Kar, Wena, Jam and Erai are its left-bank tributaries whereas Madu, Bembla and Penganga are the right-bank tributaries. The catchment area is hilly and forested in its upper reaches from its source and the lower reaches are flat wide valleys.
The project is located near Morshi, about towards to the east of Morshi and from the Amravati City, in the Godavari River Basin. The river drains a catchment area of up to the dam site.[
]
Hydrology
The path of Monsoon depressions that originate in the Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...
descends directly on the Upper Wardha catchment area. In the months of August and September, intense cyclonic precipitation also occurs over the catchment for one of two days as the low-pressure area formed in the Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...
and the cyclone moved in North West direction. On such occasions, intense rainfall is followed by flash flood runoff in the catchment. In view of these meteorological aspects heavy floods have been very common feature in this catchment. For such a flashy type of catchment with varying topography, runoff estimates at dam site are an involved process. The catchment drained at the dam site is of and is fan shaped. The parameters of slope, soil and vegetation cover, which influence the hydrology of the project, vary widely. The average annual rainfall in the catchment is , with 95% of occurring during monsoon period from June to September. The average annual inflow to the Upper Wardha Reservoir is estimated at 783 million cubic metres. The 75% dependable runoff is estimated as 500,720,000 cubic metres.
Specifications
Upper Wardha dam has two sections, the spillway at the central part of the river is flanked by long earthen embankment dams. The height of the masonry dam, which is the spillway, above the lowest foundation is and its length is . The height of the earth dam on both flanks of the spillway is and its total length is . The dam structure has a volume content of 6500 million cubic metres. The gross storage capacity of the reservoir is 786,480,000 cubic metres (27.8 TMC) with the live or effective storage capacity fixed at 614.79 million cubic metres (21.7TMC). The Dead Storage capacity is 171,690,000 cubic metres. Water utilization is planned at 390 million cubic metres. The spillway built in the gorge section of the river, which is long, is a gated structure with 13 radial gates designed to pass the design flood discharge of /s.
;Submergence
The reservoir water spread at Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of is .[ The reservoir submergence involved 24 villages in Amravati and Wardha Districts, which were partially or fully submerged involving rehabilitation of 3000 families (11,817 people) of farmers and fish workers who were displaced and resettled. These families were still in an agitation mode seeking better compensation, as only a small cash compensation was provided to them when resettled. Their demand centred on right to access the Upper Wardha dam (the Nal Damayanti Sagar) reservoir for fisheries as a measure of rehabilitation.]
;Irrigation benefits
The irrigation system of the project was planned to irrigate lands through the right bank main canal of length and left bank main canal of with complement of a system to carry the water to the fields. The total irrigation potential created is in an irrigable area of , out of an irrigation potential of (Gross Command Area is , Culturable Command Area is ), which is spread over the districts of Amravati and Wardha. The command area is principally made up of Black Cotton Soils. Jowar, cotton, soybean, tur, ground nut, and oranges are the major crops grown in the command area. The canal systems are slated for completion by June 2013.[ To ensure better irrigation planning to ensure supplies reach the tail end of the canal system even during the low flow years, a "General Algorithm" model to operate the reservoir with a Rule Curve (reservoir operating rules) in real time with inputs of all variable parameters (such as monthly demands for irrigation) has been developed. The model results indicate that irrigation releases matched irrigation demand. The reservoir operation in this process is aimed by maintaining minimum storage at the beginning of monsoon (which is the end of water year) and maintaining maximum storage during the peak of the monsoon period.][
However, due to the heavy sediment inflow the reservoir is losing its active storage capacity.
;Water supply
Amravati town is now provided water supply from the Upeer Wardha reservoir supplementing an earlier supply source.. Water supply to the Warud town (a flourishing commercial town about from Amravati city) is also planned to be supplemented from the Upper Wardha reservoir storage, which will supplement the existing tube well sources and the interim measure of tapping the Shekhdari River as a source. The plan envisages supplementation from the storage at the dam to meet the needs of the projected population of 34,500 in 2011 and 34500 in 2026 at 4,209,000 litres per day and 4,974,000 litres per day, respectively.] Water for industrial use has also been allocated and based on this allotment, a 25,000,000 litre per day water treatment plant has been built near Amravati town. Another project to divert 4,230,000 cubic metres of water from the Upper Wardha Dam Pandhurna district in Madhya Pradesh has also been approved at a cost of US $18 million.
;Flood control
The reservoir water level is regulated in such a way that the river flooding in the districts of Amravati and Wardha is avoided. An automatic system of operating gates of the spillway dam to release flood water safely downstream has been installed in a control chamber of the dam. The digital instrument installed (based on Genetic Algorithm) is a two-part ultrasonic gauging device. This system is linked to the management system through "RS-232 digital connection" to receive continuous gauge measurement data and concurrently converting the gauge level to volume figures.[
;Other benefits
The dam and its surroundings provide are picturesque. Several rare species of birds have been reported from the area.]
See also
* Dams in Maharashtra
There are around 1821 notable large dams in state of Maharashtra in India.
Dams in Maharashtra by specification
The table below list dams of state of Maharashtra by their specifications which has gross storage capacity more than 10,000 103m3.
...
* List of reservoirs and dams in India
This page shows the state-wise list of dams and reservoirs in India. As of July, 2019, total number of large dams in India is 5,334. About 447 large dams are under construction in India. In terms of number of dams, India ranks third after China an ...
References
{{Godavari basin
Dams in Amravati district
Gravity dams
Dams completed in 1993
1993 establishments in Maharashtra