List of top 10 biggest dams in India

1) Tehri Dam:

The Tehri Dam is a multi-purpose rock and earth-fill embankment dam on the Bhagirathi River near Tehri town in Uttarakhand, India. It is the primary dam of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd. and the Tehri hydroelectric complex. The dam is a 260 metres (850 ft) high rock and earth-fill embankment dam. Its length is 575 metres (1,886 ft), crest width 20 metres (66 ft), and base width 1,128 metres (3,701 ft). The reservoir is expected to irrigate 2,70,000 hectares of land and generate 346 mw of hydel power. The dam will completely submerge Tehri town and 23 villages, while 72 other villages will be partially submerged. Nearly 5,200 hectares of land will also be lost to the reservoir. In addition, about 85,000 persons will be displaced by the dam.

2) The Bhakra Dam:

Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam across the Sutlej River, and is near the border between Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam, located at a gorge near the (now submerged) upstream Bhakra village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, is Asia's second highest at 225.55 m (740 ft) high next to the 261m Tehri Dam. The length of the dam (measured from the road above it) is 518.25 m; it is 9.1 m broad. Its reservoir, known as the "Gobind Sagar", stores up to 9.34 billion cubic meters of water, enough to drain the whole of Chandigarh, parts of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi.The 90 km long reservoir created by the Bhakra Dam is spread over an area of 168.35 km2. In terms of storage of water, it withholds the second largest reservoir in India, the first being Indira Sagar dam in Madhya Pradesh with capacity of 12.22 billion cubic metres. Nangal dam is another dam downstream of Bhakra dam. Sometimes both the dams together are called Bhakra-Nangal dam though they are two separate dams. The dam was dedicated to nation by late Pt. Jwahar Lal Nehru on November 20th, 1963.

3) Hirakud Dam:

Hirakud Dam is built across the Mahanadi River, about 15 km from Sambalpur in the state of Orissa in India. Built in 1957, the dam is one of the world's longest earthen dam. Hirakud Dam is the longest man-made dam in the world, about 16 mi (26 km) in length. It is one of the first major multipurpose river valley project started after India's independence. The name of the dam is mostly mis-pronounced in North India as Hirakund which is actually Hiraku.

4) Nagarjuna Sagar Dam:

The Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is the world's largest masonry dam built across Krishna River in Nagarjuna Sagar, Nalgonda District of Andhra Pradesh, India, between 1955 and 1967. The dam contains the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir with a capacity of up to 11,472 million cubic metres. The dam is 490 ft (150 m) tall and 1.6 km long with 26 gates which are 42 ft (13 m) wide and 45 ft (14 m) tall. Nagarjuna Sagar was the earliest in the series of large infrastructure projects initiated for the Green Revolution in India; it also is one of the earliest multi-purpose irrigation and hydro-electric projects in India.

5) Sardar Sarovar Dam:

The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a gravity dam on the Narmada River near Navagam, Gujarat, India. It is the largest dam and part of the Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada River. The project took form in 1979 as part of a development scheme to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity. It is the 30th largest dams planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is the largest structure to be built. It has a proposed final height of 163 m (535 ft) from foundation. The dam is one of India's most controversial dam projects and its environmental impact and net costs and benefits are widely debated. The World Bank was initially a funder of the SSD, but withdrew in 1994. The Narmada Dam has been the centre of controversy and protest since the late 1980s.

6) Indira sagar Dam:

The Indira sagar Dam is a multipurpose key project of Madhya Pradesh on the Narmada River at Narmadanagar in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh in India. The dam, built as a joint venture between Madhya Pradesh irrigation and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation is the source of the Indra Gandhi canal. The Project envisages construction of a 92 m high and 653 m long concrete gravity dam. It provides Irrigation in 1,230 square kilometres of land with annual production of 2700 million units in the districts of Khandwa and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh and power generation of 1000 MW installed capacity (8x125). The reservoir of 12,200,000,000 m³ (9,890,701 acre ft) was created.

7) Bhavanisagar Dam:

The Bhavanisagar Dam and Reservoir, also called Lower Bhavani Dam, is located on the Bhavani River between Mettupalayam and Sathyamangalam in Erode District, Tamil Nadu, South India. The dam is situated around 16 km (9.9 mi) west to Satyamangalam and 35 km (22 mi) from Gobichettipalayam, 36 km (22 mi) north-east to Mettuppalayam and 70 km (43 mi) from Erode and 75 km (47 mi) from Coimbatore.

8) Koyna Hydroelectric Project:

The Koyna Hydroelectric Project is the largest completed hydroelectric power plant of India. The dam is located at Koyana nagar, Satara District, nestled in the Western Ghats on the state highway between Chiplun and Karad. It is a complex project consisting of total four dams with the largest Dam built on Koyna River known as Koyna Dam hence the name Koyna Hydroelectric project. The total Installed capacity of the project is 1,920 MW. The project consists of 4 stages of power generation. Due to the project's electricity generating potential the Koyna River is considered as the life line of Maharashtra.

9) Idukki Dam:

The Idukki Dam, located in Kerala, India, is a 168.91 m (554 ft) tall arch dam. The dam built on the Periyar River, between the two mountains - Kuravanmala (839) m and Kurathimala (925)m. It was constructed and is owned by the Kerala State Electricity Board. It supports a 780 MW hydroelectric power station. At 167.68 metres, it is one of the highest arch dams in Asia. Technically, the dam type is a concrete double, curvature parabolic, thin arc dam. This dam was constructed along with two other dams at Cheruthony and Kulamavu. Together, the three dams have created an artificial lake that is 60 km² in area. The stored water is used to produce electricity at the Moolamattom Power house, which is located inside nearby rocky caves. The Government of Canada aided in the building of the dam with long term loans and grants.

10) Krishna Raja Sagara:

The Krishna Raja Sagara, also popularly known as KRS, is the name of both a lake and the dam that causes it. The dam was built across river Kaveri, the life giving river for the Mysore and Mandya districts, in 1924. Sir. Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya served as the chief engineer during the construction of this dam. The dam is named for the then ruler of the Mysore Kingdom, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. Apart from being the main source of water for irrigation in the most fertile Mysore and Mandya, the reservoir is the main source of drinking water for all of Mysore city and almost the whole of Bangalore city, the capital of the state of Karnataka. The water released from this dam is further used as an important source of water in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has its own Mettur dam in the Salem district. There is an ornamental garden attached to the dam, called Brindavan Gardens.

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