11 Nov 2024        09:56:00 am

Geography

Hirakud Dam

Tags : Hirakud Dam

Topic: Reservoirs

Why in the news?

• Built six decades ago, the canal network connected to the Hirakud Dam in Odisha, one of the biggest projects in eastern India, is all set to be renovated, which is expected to minimize wastage of water meant for irrigation. 

Source: The Hindu 

About Hirakud Dam:

• It is built across the Mahanadi River, about 15 km. from Sambalpur in Odisha.
• It is the longest earthen dam in the world, around 26 km in length.
• The dam forms a vast reservoir known as the Hirakud Reservoir or Hirakud Lake. It is the biggest artificial lake in Asia.
• Purpose:
  • It provides irrigation facilities to Rabi crops and Kharif crops of Bolangir, Subarnapur, Bargarh and Sambalpur.
  • The capacity of power generation installed at Hirakud dam is 359.8 MW.
  • More than 436,000 hectares of land in the Mahanadi delta also get irrigated by the water which is released from the powerhouse. 
  • The delta area in Cuttack and Puri district gets flood protection because it. 
• Structure:
  • Granite, hard concrete and earth are the most used substances in building the dam.
  • Stretched from the Chandi Dungri hills on the right to the Lamb Dungri hills on the left, the main structure of Hirakud Dam is about 4.8 km long. 
  • The dam is a composite structure of Concrete, Masonry and Earth.
• Cattle island, a small island in the Hirakud Reservoir, is inhabited by a large herd of wild cattle, which are believed to be the descendants of cattle that were left behind by villagers when the dam was constructed in the 1950s.

Mahanadi River:

• It is one of the major east-flowing peninsular rivers in India.
• It originates from the Sihawa range of hills in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh state.
• It flows in a southeastern direction through Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
• The catchment area of the basin extends over major parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and comparatively smaller portions of Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
• It flows a total of 860 km by distance before it ends up in the Bay of Bengal.
• Its main tributaries are Seonath, Jonk, Hasdeo, Mand, Ib, Ong and Telen rivers.

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