Sardar Sarovar Dam

Sept. 15, 2024

The water level of Gujarat's Sardar Sarovar Dam went up to 136.43 metres recently, over two metres short of its full reservoir level.

About Sardar Sarovar Dam:

  • It is a concrete gravity dambuilt on the Narmada River at Kevadia in Gujarat’s Narmada district.
  • The dam was named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
  • It is the third highest concrete dam (163 meters) in India, the first two being Bhakra (226 metres) in Himachal Pradesh and Lakhwar (192 meters) in Uttar Pradesh.
  • In terms of the volume of concrete involved in gravity dams, this dam will be ranked as the second largest in the world after the Grand Coule Dam in the USA.
  • It is a 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 river catchment area above the dam site is 88,000 sq. km. and has a spillway discharging capacity of 87,000 cubic meters a second. 
  • It has the longest canal network in the world and includes the Narmada Main Canal, around 2,500 km of branch canals, 5,500 km of distributaries, and other associated channels.
    • The 458.3km long, 1,133 cumecs capacity Narmada Main Canal in Gujarat is the largest irrigation-lined canal in the world.
  • Power benefits are shared among Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat in the ratio of 57:27:16, respectively.