Geography
The dam is located on the Chambal River near Rawatbhata in Rajasthan. The dam drains a total catchment area of 24,864 km2 (9,600 sq mi), of which only 956 km2 (369 sq mi) are in Rajasthan. The free catchment intercepted at this dam site, below Gandhi Sagar Dam, is 2,280 km2 (880 sq mi).
The Chambal River (known in ancient times as the Charmavati River), a perennial river, which is first tapped at the Gandhi Sagar dam as part of its cascade development, raises in the Vindhya Range of hills at an elevation of (853 metres (2,799 ft), south of Mhow (15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west-southwest of Mhow). It flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, runs for a time through Rajasthan, then forms the boundary between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before turning southeast to join the Yamuna River in Uttar Pradesh state. Its total length from source up to the confluence with the Yamuna River near Etawah at elevation (122 metres (400 ft) is 900 kilometres (560 mi). It flows in a north-south direction for about (360 kilometres (220 mi) in Madhya Pradesh and then enters Rajasthan at Chaurasigarh about 96 kilometres (60 mi) south east from Kota and eventually joins the Yamuna River in Uttar Pradesh near Etawah. The river reach of 96 kilometres (60 mi) from 344 kilometres (214 mi) to 440 kilometres (270 mi) from its source is a deep gorge section and further downstream there are plains. The Gandhi Sagar Dam is located in the middle reach of the gorge section of the river and affords good storage facility. For the next (48 kilometres (30 mi), the river flows through the Kundal Plateau, and the Rana Pratap Sagar Dam is constructed at the lower end of this reach, about (1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) upstream of Chulia Falls. Here again, the topography permits fairly good storage upstream of the dam.
The river is drained by a rainfed catchment with major part of the catchment receiving an average rainfall of 860 millimetres (34 in), with temperature variation from a maximum of 40 °C (104 °F) to a minimum of 2 °C (36 °F), and with the relative humidity lying between 30 and 90% during the year.
The nearest railway station is at Kota, which is at a road distance of 28 kilometres (17 mi), from the dam.
Read more about this topic: Rana Pratap Sagar Dam
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