Ujjani Dam - Geography

Geography

The Bhima River on which the Ujjani Dam has been built rises from Bhimashankar hills in the Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri hill range. The river flows for a length of 725 km (450 mi) till it meets the Krishna River (one of the two major river systems in Maharashtra, the other being the Godavari River) at Narsingpur in Solapur district. Bhima River Basin has many tributaries of which the major ones are the Kundali River, Kumandala River, Ghod river, Bhama River, Indrayani River, Mula River, Mutha River, Pavna River, Bori, Sina, Man, Bhogwati and Nira. The total drainage area of 48,631 km2 (18,777 sq mi) of Bhima River basin, an inter state river basin, covers both Maharashtra (75%) and Karnataka (25%) states, out of which 14,858 km2 (5,737 sq mi) drains into the Ujjani Reservoir created by the Ujjani Dam. The Upper Bhima River basin is subdivided into three zones namely northern, middle and southern, the main stem of the river is in the middle zone where the Bhima Dam is built, while the southern zone is dominated by five reservoirs. The basin above the dam has intense rural, agricultural, urban and industrial activities. The river basin, which has a slope from west to east has extreme physiographic and agro-climatic variations. The drainage basin has rich and fertile agricultural land, and several water resources development projects have been built on its river system. Government of Maharashtra has classified the stretches of the Upper Bhima River for the purpose of various uses as, A-I for drinking water without conventional treatment but after disinfection, A-II Drinking water after conventional treatment followed by disinfection, A-III for fish and wildlife propagation and A-IV for agriculture, industrial cooling and process. The dam and the reservoir are approachable from Pune city, which is 160 km (99 mi) away. The dam is about 5 mi (8.0 km) upstream of the bridge across the Bhima River on the Pune-Sholapur Road.