Krishna River


The Krishna River is the fourth-biggest river in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Godavari and Brahmaputra. The river is almost long. The river is also called Krishnaveni. It is one of the major sources of irrigation for Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Tributaries

Right-bank tributaryTown, District, State of confluenceLeft-Bank Tributary
Venna RiverSangam Mauli, Satara, Maharashtra
Urmodi riverKashil, Satara, Maharashtra
Tarali/Kali Ganga riverUmbraj, Satara, Maharashtra
Mand riverUmbraj, Satara, Maharashtra
Tasawade, Satara, MaharashtraKolamba river
Koyna RiverKarad, Satara, Maharashtra
Bramhanal, Sangli, MaharashtraYerla river
Warna RiverHaripur, Sangli, Maharashtra
Panchganga RiverNarsobawadi, Sangli, Mahrashtra
DudhagangaYadur, Belgaum, Karnataka
Hippargi barrage
Ghataprabha RiverAlmatti, Bagalkot District, Karanataka
Almatti Dam
Malaprabha RiverKudala Sangam, Bagalkot District, Karanataka
Basava Sagar Reservoir
Ammapur, Kalburgi, KarnatakaDoni River
Kadlur, Raichur, KarnatakaBhima River
Jurala dam
Lower Jurala dam
Tungabhadra RiverAlampur, Mahaboobnagar, Telangana
Srisailam templeSrisailam Dam
Srisailam tail pond weir
Nalgonda district, TelanganaDindi River
Nagarjuna Sagar dam
Chityala, NalgondaHaliya River
Nagarjuna Sagar tail pond dam
Wazirabad, Nalgonda, TelanganaMusi River
Pulichintala dam, Suryapet district
Mukteswarapuram, Krishna districtPaleru River
Amaravathi village, Guntur districtMunneru River
Ibrahimpatnam, Krishna districtPolavaram right bank canal
Kondaveeti vaguIbrahimpatnam, Krishna districtBudameru diversion channel
Amaravati cityPrakasam BarrageVijayawada city
National Waterway 4Prakasam BarrageNational Waterway 4

The largest tributary of the Krishna River is the Tungabhadra River with a drainage basin measuring, running for about, but the longest tributary is the Bhima River, which makes a total run of and has an equally large drainage area of.
Three tributaries Panchganga, Warna and Yerla meet Krishna river near Sangli. These places are considered very holy. It is said that Lord Dattatreya spent some of his days at Audumber on the banks of river Krishna.
Kudalasangama, is here and river flow east towards Srisailam Andhra Pradesh.
Sangameswaram of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh is a famous pilgrim center for Hindus where Tungabhadra and Bhavanasi rivers join the Krishna river. The Sangameswaram temple is now drowned in the Srisailam reservoir, and visible for devotees only during summer when the reservoir's water level comes down.

Krishna Basin

Krishna Basin extends over an area of which is nearly 8% of the total geographical area of the country. This large basin lies in the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The Krishna river rises in the Western Ghats, at an elevation of about just north of Mahabaleshwar, about from the Arabian Sea. It flows for about and outfalls into the Bay of Bengal. The principal tributaries joining Krishna are the Ghataprabha River, Malaprabha River, Bhima River, Tungabhadra River and Musi River.
Most of this basin comprises rolling and undulating country, except for the western border, which is formed by an unbroken line of the Western Ghats. The important soil types found in the basin are black soils, red soils, laterite and lateritic soils, alluvium, mixed soils, red and black soils and saline and alkaline soils.
An average annual surface water potential of 78.1 km3 has been assessed in this basin. Out of this, 58.0 km3 is utilizable water. Culturable area in the basin is about, which is 10.4% of the total cultivable area of the country. As the water availability in the Krishna river was becoming inadequate to meet the water demand, Godavari River is linked to the Krishna river by commissioning the Polavaram right bank canal with the help of Pattiseema lift scheme in the year 2015 to augment water availability to the Prakasam Barrage in Andhra Pradesh. The irrigation canals of Prakasam Barrage form part of National Waterway 4.

Places and temples

This river is revered by Hindus as sacred. The river is also believed to remove all sins of people by taking a bath in this river. The centre of attraction is the Krishna Pushkaram fair which is held once in twelve years on the banks of the Krishna river. There are many pilgrimage places in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the course of the river.
The first holy place on the river Krishna is at Wai, known for the Mahaganpati Mandir and Kashivishweshwar temple. It has seven ghats along the river. Temples like Dattadeva temple, which is revered by the people of Maharashtra, are located on the banks of Krishna at Narsobawadi and Audumbar near Sangli. Yadur is one of the important holy places in Karnataka which is located on the bank of Krishna. Veerabhadra temple is a famous temple. Many devotees visit this place from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Also, located on the banks of the river Krishna is the Sangameshwar Shiva temple at Haripur. Some of the other temples are the Kanaka Durga Temple in Vijayawada, Ramling temple near Sangli, Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga, Amareshwara Swamy Temple, Dattadeva temple, and Sangameshwara Shiva temples at Alampur & Gadwal in Telangana.

Flora and fauna

Wide spread area near to the Krishna river holds the rich flora and fauna. The last surviving Mangrove forests in the Krishna estuary have been declared as the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is the home to the large number of resident and migratory birds. Fishing cat, otter, Estuarine crocodile, spotted deer, sambar, black buck, snake, lizards and jackal can also be spotted in the sanctuary. The sanctuary also supports rich vegetation with plants like Rhizophora, Avicennia, and Aegiceros. The following are few other wildlife sanctuaries located in the krishna basin.
The following are few other waterfalls located in the river basin
The Krishna River is spanned by several bridges along its course, some of which are listed below.
In October 2009, heavy floods occurred, isolating 350 villages and leaving millions homeless, which is believed to be first occurrence in 1000 years. The flood resulted in heavy damage to Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Guntur, Krishna and Nalagonda Districts. The entire city of Kurnool was immersed in approximately water for nearly 3 days.
Water inflow of was recorded at the Prakasam Barriage, which surpassed the previous record of recorded in the year 1903. Krishna river is the second largest east flowing river of the peninsula. The flood waters of Krishna and Godavari rivers can be fully utilized by exporting water to other east flowing peninsular rivers up to Vaigai River in Tamil Nadu by constructing a coastal reservoir on the Bay of Bengal sea area.

Interstate water sharing

At present, the award of Bachawat tribunal dated 31 May 1976 is applicable for sharing the water available in the river among the riparian states. The Brijesh Kumar tribunal award given on 29 November 2013 is challenged by Andhra Pradesh in the Supreme Court and the case pending since then. The newly created state of Telangana also approached Supreme Court demanding a fresh tribunal hearing to secure its water needs on equitable basis.
Even though the river does not flow through Tamil Nadu, the Telugu Ganga Project is a canal system that brings Krishna river water to that state's capital city of Chennai,

Dams

There are many dams constructed across the Krishna river.
Krishna river is one of the rivers whose water energy is harnessed to a large extent by various hydro electric power stations in India. The following is the list of hydro electric power stations excluding small and medium installations.
Name of the projectRated Power Comments
Koyna Hydroelectric Project1,920
Mulshi Dam300Power station with Pumped-storage hydroelectricity units
Thokarwadi Dam72
Ujjani Dam12Power station with Pumped-storage hydroelectricity units
Almatti Dam290
Bhadra Dam39
Tungabhadra Dam127
Jurala Hydroelectric Project240
Lower Jurala Hydro Electric Project240
Srisailam Dam1,670Power station with Pumped-storage hydroelectricity units
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam960Power station with Pumped-storage hydroelectricity units
Nagarjuna Sagar tail pond50
Pulichinthala Dam120

Mineral deposits

Krishna river basin is endowed with rich mineral deposits such as oil & gas, coal, iron, limestone, dolomite, gold, granite, laterite, uranium, diamonds, etc. The following are the few noted deposits:
Most of the years, the river water is not joining the sea due to full utilisation of water mainly in agriculture. Closed river basin of Krishna means that the river ecosystem is on the verge of death. The river receives the waste from the large number of cities and the river basin population has increased to 80 million enhancing pollution load many folds into the river. Adequate average and minimum continuous environmental flows to the sea are not taking place in most of the years constricting salt export and leading to formation of saline and sodic alkaline soils in the lower reaches of the river basin. High alkalinity water is discharged from the ash dump areas of many coal fired power stations into the river which further increases the alkalinity of the river water whose water is naturally of high alkalinity since the river basin is draining vast area of basalt rock formations. The following are the few coal fired power stations located in the river basin
Name of Power StationRated Power
Vijayawada Thermal Power Station1,760
Raichur Thermal Power Station1,470
Bellary Thermal Power station1,700
Yermarus Thermal Power Station1,600
Solapur Super Thermal Power Station1,320
Kudgi Super Thermal Power Project2,400
Yadadri Thermal Power Plant4000