Table of Contents
Brahmani
Introduction
The Brahmani is a major inter-state east flowing river amongst the peninsular rivers in India. This basin is situated within the geographical co-ordinates of north latitude 20°-28'- to 23°-35' and east longitude 83°52' to 87°03' approximately. The basin is bounded in the North by Chhotanagpur plateau, in the West and South by the Mahanadi basin and in the East by the Bay of Bengal. The basin flows through Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa States and draining a total area of 39,033 sq.km. before it outfalls in to the Bay of Bengal. The state-wise break up of drainage area is given below.
| Sl. No. | Name of State | Drainage area (sq. km.) |
| 1. | Jharkhand | 15,769 |
| 2. | Orissa | 22,364 |
| 3. | Chhattisgarh | 900 |
| Total | 39,033 |
Basin map of Brahmani river system depicting various hydrological and hydro-meteorological observation stations maintained by CWC, State Government and India Meteorological Department. CWC is maintaining 8 stations, of which 5 are of type GDSQ, one GQ, one GD and one G (Seasonal). In addition, Water quality is also observed at 3 stations in this basin.
River System
The Brahmani, known as the South Koel river in the upper reaches, originates near Nagri village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand at an elevation of about 600m. The total length of its run is about 799 km. The principal tributaries of this river are Sankh, Tikra and Karo. The catchment area details are furnished below.
| Sl.No | Name of the River/ Tributary | Bank | Elevation of source (m) | Length(km.) | Catchment Area(sq. km) | % w.r.t. total |
| 1 | Brahmani | Main stream | 600 | 799 | 26,831 | 68.7 |
| 2 | Karo | Left | 600 | 112 | 2,741 | 7.0 |
| 3 | Sankh | Right | 900 | 196 | 6,933 | 17.8 |
| 4 | Tikra | Right | 450 | 101 | 2,528 | 6.5 |
| Total | 39,033 | 100.0 |
Climatic Characteristics
The climate of the basin is tropical with a fairly hot summer and moderately cold winter.This basin is Influenced by south west monsoon from June to October, in addition to some occasional down pours in the lower reaches due to the cyclonic depressions in the Bay of Bengal The average annual rainfall of this basin works out to be 1460mm. The mean maximum temperature varies from 38 to 43° C and the minimum temperature ranges between 10 to 15° C.
Geology
The soils in this basin can be grouped as red and yellow, mixed red and black soils, red sandy soils, laterite, red loamy, coastal alluvium, saline and forest. The basin is rich in mineral resources. Coal, Iron ore, Copper, Bauxite, Chromite, Limestone, Manganese, Dolomites, Lead, Fire-clay and China clay are the main mineral resources of this basin.
