Hydrology
The waters of the Ravi River are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty, signed by India and Pakistan. Within India, the river is under the jurisdiction of the riparian states of Punjab, Haryana, Kashmir and Rajasthan, but management is presided by the Supreme Court of India and the Ravi Beas Tribunal, set up in 1986 for the purpose.
- Pre-partition utilization
On the Ravi River, the earliest project built was the Madhopur Headworks, in 1902. It is a run-of-the river project (no storage envisaged) to divert flows through the Upper Bari Doab Canal (also known as Central Bari Doab Canal) to provide irrigation in the command area of the then unified India. Doabas formed by the Ravi River are known as the Rechna Doab – between the Chenab and the Ravi River, and the Bari Doab or Majha – between the Ravi and the Beas River. Government of India has assessed the pre-partition utilization in India (Punjab) as 1,476,000 acre feet (1.821 km3).
- Hydropower
The Hydropower potential of Ravi River system has been assessed as 2294 MW. The hydropower potential developed since 1980s is through installation of Baira Suil Hydroelelectric Power Project of 198 MW capacity, the Chamera-I of 540 MW capacity commissioned in 1994, the Ranjitsagar Multipurpose Project (600 MW) completed in 1999 and the Chamera-II of 300 MW capacity in the upstream of Chamera-I commissioned in 2004.
- Multipurpose development
The major multipurpose project (Irrigation, Hydropower, Flood Control, development of Fisheries, Tourism and so forth) built on the river is the Ranjit Sagar Dam (also known as Thein dam as it is located in Thein village). The left bank is in Punjab and the right bank is in Jammu and Kashmir. It is located on the main stem of the Ravi River, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) upstream of Madhopur Headworks (built during pre-partition time). The project is an outcome of the development plan conceived for the utilization of the waters of three eastern rivers allocated to India under the Indus Treaty, namely the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, for irrigation, hydropower generation and other consumptive uses.
A proposal for building a storage dam on the Ravi River was initially planned in 1912, envisaging a 200 feet (61 m) high dam. A committee later conducted a survey of the area, but it wasn't until 1954 that geologists fully inspected the project area. In 1957, a storage Dam was proposed on the Ravi River for irrigation purposes only. The power generation aspect was not considered then. It was only in 1964 that the project was conceived for multipurpose development and submitted to Government of India for approval. Finally, in April 1982, the project was approved for construction by the Government of India.
The project, as built now, has a 160 metres (520 ft) high earth gravel shell dam with a gross irrigation potential of 348,000 hectares (860,000 acres) of land and power generation of 600 MW (4 units of 150 MW capacity each).
The geomorpohological setting of the river basin, which has a large number of terraces between Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal ranges, is attributed to the truly Himalayan characteristics of the river reflecting the "cis-Himalayan tectonic; structural, lithological and climatic conditions. Obviously it is different from the antecedent Indus and Sutlej".
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