River(Impounds): Tungabhadra River
Location: Hospet in Karnataka
Opening: 1953
Height: 49 M
Length: 2443 M
HISTORY:
The Tungabhadra Dam is constructed across the Tungabhadra River, a tributary of the Krishna River. The dam is near the town of Hospet in Karnataka. It is a multipurpose dam serving irrigation, electricity generation, flood control, etc. This is a joint project of erstwhile Hyderabad state and erstwhile Madras Presidency when the construction was started; later it became a joint project of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh after its completion in 1953. The main architect of the dam was Dr Thirumala Iyengar, an engineer from Madras.The dam creates the biggest reservoir on the Tungabhadra River with 101 tmcft of gross storage capacity at full reservoir level (FRL) 498 m MSL, and a water spread area of 378 square kilometres.The dam is 49.39 meters high above its deepest foundation.The left canals emanating from the reservoir supplies water for irrigation entirely in Karnataka state. Two right bank canals are constructed — one at low level and the other at high level serving irrigation in Karnataka and Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. Hydropower units are installed on canal drops. The reservoir water is used to supply water to downstream barrages Rajolibanda and Sunkesula located on the Tungabhadra River. The identified water use from the project is 220 tmcft by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh got 151 tmcft and 79 tmcft water use entitlement respectively.