The Suvarnavathi River, also called the Honnuhole or Honhole river, is a southern tributary of the

Kaveri River The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari and Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin is estimated to be and encompasses the states o ...

in the Indian states of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. Its drainage area is about . The river begins at Badibadga in the Nasurghat hills of southern Karnataka's Mysore district as the convergence of two streams, the Niredurgihalla and Araikaduhalla. It is joined by two significant tributaries, the Chikkahole and the Yenehole, on its journey, generally to the east, to the Kaveri. The Suvarnavathi Reservoir, entirely in Karnataka, is formed by the Suvarnavathi Dam built across the river. The dam is adjacent to the Karnataka State Forest near Punajanur along the border between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Suvarnavathi Dam is located near the village of Attugulipura, Chamarajanagara District,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is adjacent to National Highway 948, and is about from

Chamarajanagara Chamarajanagara is a city and headquarter of eponymous Chamarajanagar district in the Karnataka state of India. It is named after Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, the erstwhile Raja of Mysore, Chamarajanagara was previously known as 'Arikottara'. Histo ...

, a town of about 70,000 (as of 2011) which is headquarters of the district. The reservoir was built in 1977 on the National Highway 948 between Bengaluru and

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

. Suvarnavathi reservoir has a storage capacity of 1258.78

Tmcft Tmcft, (Tmc ft), (TMC), (tmc) is the abbreviation of thousand million cubic feet (1,000,000,000 = 109 = 1 billion), commonly used in India in reference to volume of water in a reservoir or river A river is a natural stream of fresh wa ...

. It was constructed at a cost of about

₹ The Indian rupee sign ⟨₹⟩ is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its ...

299.60 lakhs in 1977. The length of the dam is . Its height is 25 m (above the river bed level). In 2019, it was believed that the twin reservoirs could go dry. In addition to the effect of general drought, this was due to the fact that Tamil Nadu had quietly pursued a program to build dozens of small dams in villages upstream from the reservoirs (villages including Kodipura, Thalamali, Nithapura, Egalur, Chikkahalli, Marur, Malajanapura) to preserve water for their use. Previously, a heavy rainfall in the Talwandi catchment area in Tamil Nadu would reach and fill the Chikkahole reservoir, and overflow from there would also raise the level of the Suvarnavathi reservoir. In 2019 however "despite good rainfall for a couple of weeks in Tamil Nadu, not a drop has flown into Chikkahole reservoir." An analysis published in 2022 assesses the dam's spillway capacity to be inadequate, and that a height increase of the dam is needed, else 46 villages and a city are at undue risk of flooding, which will be prohibitively expensive if it occurs. About away is Chikkahole Reservoir, created by the Chikkahole Dam, which is linked to the Suvarnavathi Reservoir by a channel. The Suvarnavathi and Chikkahole are called twin reservoirs. Both of them are in the back drop of beautiful nature. Fisheries and horticulture are the main occupation of this area. The added attraction of these reservoirs are seen in the wandering of wildlife all around. The Suvarnavathi Reservoir is the main source of water for irrigation in nearby villages; it usually is full by end of the monsoon season and dry during summer season. The main source of water for the reservoir is rainfall in the Punanjanur (Punajur) forest area during the monsoon. Also it is the source of drinking water for wild animals as it is adjacent to the thick forest.

Accessibility

Numerous bus and train services provide transportation from

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

to the town Chamarajanagara town, and then it is around further to the Suvarnavathi Dam. Local transport bus service is available for the last leg.

References

Rivers of Karnataka Rivers of Tamil Nadu Geography of Chamarajanagar district Tourist attractions in Chamarajanagar district {{Chamarajanagar-geo-stub

Accessibility

See also

References