Godavari

« Go Back

Hydrological Observation Stations Map

The Godavari basin extends over states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha in addition to smaller parts in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Union territory of Puducherry having a total area of 3,12,812 Sq.km with a maximum length and width of about 995 km and 583 km. It lies between 73°24’ to 83°4’ east longitudes and 16°19’ to 22°34’ north latitudes and accounts for nearly 9.5% of the total geographical area of the country. The basin is bounded by Satmala hills, the Ajanta range and the Mahadeo hills on the north, by the Eastern Ghats on the south and the east and by the Western Ghats on the west. The Godavari River rises from Trimbakeshwar in the Nashik district of Maharashtra about 80 km from the Arabian Sea at an elevation of 1,067 m. The total length of Godavari from its origin to outfall into the Bay of Bengal is 1,465 km. About 64 km. from the origin, the Godavari is joined by Dharna, on its right bank and a short distance down stream the Kadana joins it from the left. The combined waters of the Pravara and Mula which rise in the hills of Akola join the river from left about 217 km. from the origin. About 338 km. from the origin, the river receives the combined waters from the Purna and Dudhna rivers and after a further 138 km. at the border of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the waters of the Manjira river joins it from the South. At this point, Godavari flows at an elevation of about 329 m. The river Pranhita, conveying the combined waters of Penganga, the Wardha and Wainganga, which drain Nagpur and southern slopes of the Satpura ranges, falls into Godavari about 306 km. below its confluence with the Manjira. The waters of the Indravathi join the river Godavari 48 Km down stream. The last major tributary is the Sabari, which joins the Godavari, 100 km. up-stream of Rajahmundry. The largest tributary of the Godavari is the Pranhita with about 34.87% coverage of drainage area. The Pravara, Manjira and Maner are right bank tributaries covering about 16.14%, the Purna, Pranhita, Indravathi and Sabari are important left bank tributaries, covering nearly 59.7% of the total catchment area of the basin. The Godavari in the upper, middle, and lower reaches make up for the balance 24.16%. The major part of basin is covered with agricultural land accounting to 59.57% of the total area and 3.6% of the basin is covered by water bodies. The basin spreads over 51 parliamentary constituencies (2009) comprising 21 of Maharashtra, 18 of Andhra Pradesh, 4 of Madhya Pradesh, 3 each of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and 1 each of Karnataka and Puducherry.

The Godavari basin is bounded on the north by the Satmala hills, on the south by the Ajanta range and the Mahadeo hills, on the east by the Eastern Ghats and on the west by the Western Ghats. Except for the hills forming the watershed around the basin, the entire drainage basin of the river comprises rolling and undulating country – a series of ridges and valleys interspersed with low hill ranges. The upper reaches of the Godavari drainage basin are occupied by the Deccan Traps containing minerals, hypersthene, augite, diopside, enstatite, magnetite, epidote, biotite, zircon, rutile, apatite and chlorite. The middle part of the basin is principally Archean granites and Dharwars composed of phyllites, quartzites, amphiboles and granites. The downstream part of the middle basin is occupied mainly by the Cuddapah and Vindhyan metasediments and rocks of the Gondwana group. The Cuddapahs and Vindhyan are quartzites, sandstones, shales, lime stones and conglomerates. The Gondwanas are principally detritals with some thick coal seams. The Eastern Ghats dominate the lower part of the drainage basin and are formed mainly from the Khondalites which include quartz- feldspar- garnet- silllimanite gneisses, quartzite, calc-granulites and charnockites. In the coastal region the tertiary Rajahmundry sandstones crop out.
The western edge of the basin is an almost unbroken line formed by the Sahyadri range of the Western Ghats from 600 to 2,100 m height. It has the heaviest rainfall and the dampest climate in the basin. Hardly 50 to 60 km east of the Ghats lie the sparsely cultivated and undulating plains of the Deccan, with a dry climate. The interior of the basin is a plateau, the greater part of which is at an elevation of 300 to 600 m with its general slope eastwards. Great undulating plains, divided from each other by flat topped ranges of hills, are the chief characteristics of this plateau. The Eastern Ghats which form the eastern boundary of the peninsula are not well-defined or continuous as the Sahyadri range on the west. They rise from the plains of East Godavari and Visakhapatnam to the level of the table land of Jeypore. The northern boundary of the basin comprises a series of table-lands varying from 600 to 1,200 m in elevation, which have withstood the effect of ages of denudation better than the terrain to the north and south of them. To the south, lie great stretches of plain at an elevation of more than 300 m interspersed with and surrounded by hill ranges, some bare and rocky, but generally covered with forests and scrub jungles. The delta of Godavari consists of a wide belt of river borne alluvium formed by deposits at the mouth of the river over the ages. The process of silting at the mouth of the river is still continuing and the delta is gradually extending into the sea.

Based on the systematic sampling of river water at many locations in the basin, its suitability for various purposes is determined by CPCB and as per the results, the quality is not as per the desired class and BOD remains the most critical parameter. At many places, the desired class was B or C while the existing class was D.

The Godavari basin receives its maximum rainfall during the Southwest monsoon. The monsoon currents strike the West Coast of the peninsula from West and South-West, meet the Western Ghats or Sahyadri Range which present almost an uninterrupted barrier ranging from 600 m. to 2100 m. in height. Before surmounting this barrier the currents deposit most of their moisture on its windward side, and then sweep across the interior of the peninsula on the Easterly course. Rainfall is governed largely by the orography of the area, which leads to variation in the amount of precipitation. In crossing the Ghats, the monsoon wind loses a large part of its moisture. The monsoon currents follow the Eastward slope of the country from the crest of the Ghats, which form the watershed. Conditions in the interior are, therefore, somewhat unfavorable for heavy precipitation except in association with the depression from the Bay of Bengal. The north-east part of the Godavari basin also receives some rain in association with monsoon depressions, which move west-north-west across the Orissa coast.

The Godavari receives the water from a length of about 129 km. of the high rainfall zone in the Western Ghats. The annual rainfall varies from 1,000 to 3,000 mm in this reach. East of the Western Ghats, the rainfall decreases rapidly to less than 600 mm. There is a belt some distance East of the Western Ghats and in width varying from about 80 km. in the South to about 97 km. in the North with less than 600 mm, of normal annual rainfall. The belt which is about 10,360 sq.km. in area, includes portions of Aurangabad and Ahmednagar districts of Maharashtra. After this area the rainfall again gradually increases to about 900 mm towards the East coast.

The months of January and February are almost dry in the Godavari basin, the rainfall during these two months being less than 15 mm. During the next three months, up to end of May, it varies from 20 mm to about 50 mm, in most parts of the basin. All parts of the basin receive the maximum rainfall in the period from June to September. The Godavari basin as a whole receives 84% of the annual rainfall on an average, during the Southwest monsoon, which sets in mid June and ends by mid October. The Indravati and Pranhita sub-basins receive upto 86% and 88% of the annual rainfall during the same period due to influence of the cyclonic storms which predominantly pass through these sub-basins.

*Click on the highlighted river to get details

River Overview Map
(Generated Under India WRIS Project)

Godavari river rises near Nasik in Maharashtra at an elevation of about 1067 m and flows for a length of about 1465 km before outfalling in to the Bay of Bengal. The principal tributaries of the river are the Pravara, the Purna, the Manjra, the Penganga, the Wardha,the Wainganga the Pranhita (combined flow of Wainganga, Penganga, Wardha), the Indravati, the Maner and the Sabri.

During the pre-plan period, many storage and diversion projects were taken up in this basin. Important among these are the Godavari delta system, Nizm Sagar reservoir, Wilson dam, Nandu Madhmeshwar irrigation scheme (Godavari canal) and Pravara dam.
Important projects completed duing the plan period are Kaddam, Purna, Pus, Bagh, Mula and Itiadoh, Srirama Sagar, Godavari barrage, Upper Penganga, Jaikwadi, Upper Wainganga, Upper Indravati, Upper Wardha and among the on-going projects, the prominent ones are Ghosi Khurd, Upper Godavari.
Against the utilizable surface water potential of 76.3 cubic km the present utilization has been assessed as 38 cubic km. The ground water utilization is about 13% of the utilizable potential.
A number of inter-state agreements exist between the basin states regarding sharing of water of this basin. The Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal has not allocated the flows among the basin States, but observed that the existing agreements between the basin States so far as they relate to the projects on the Godavari river and in the Godavari river basin, be carried out.

The major Hydro Power Stations in the basins are Upper Indravati, Upper Kolab, Balimela, Jayakwadi, Upper Sileru, Lower Sileru

The major urban Centers in the basin are Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nashik, Rajhmundry. Nashik and Aurangabad have large number of industries especially automobile. Other then this, the industries in the basin are mostly based on agricultural produce such as rice milling, cotton spinning and weaving, sugar and oil extraction. Cement and some small engineering industries also exist in the basin.

Hydrological observations in the basin are carried out by the Central as well as State Governments. The Central Water Commission maintains 48 gauge-discharge sites in the basin. At 16 of these sites, sediment observations are also made and at 18 stations water quality monitoring is also done. The Central Water Commission maintains 18 flood forecasting stations in the basin.

Godavari basin faces flooding problem in its lower reaches. The coastal areas are cyclone-prone. The delta areas face drainage congestion due to flat topography. A large portion of Maharashtra falling (Marathwada) in the basin is drought prone.

1. Agreement of 1946 between the Governments of madras and Orissa regarding the development of hydro- electric power of Duduma falls on the Machkund river.view

2. Summary record of decision taken at the inter-state conference held on 27th July and 28th July, 1951 among the states of Bombay, madras, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh and Mysore regarding the utilization of Krishna and Godavari waters. view

3 Agreement Dated 7th September, 1959 between Andhra Pradesh and Orissa on Upper sileru Project. view

4 Agreement Dated 4th September, 1962 between the Governments of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh regarding the use of waters of sileru river. view

5 Agreement Dated 8th march, 1964 between the Governments of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh regarding certain inter-state irrigation and hydel projects: Bagh, Pench( see Tapi Basin) view

6 Agreement Dated 16th May, 1969 between the Governments of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh regarding certain Inter-state irrigation and Hydel Projects: Pench Bagh and also regarding the constitution of interstate control board for joint irrigation and hydel projects. view

7 Agreement Dated 31st January,1975 between the Governments of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh regarding the swarn Project and other agreements between the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra regarding the following Projects: Bhawanthadi

Bhapalpatnam Project I and II

Kalisarar Project

Nugur II Hydro-Electric Project

Kotri Nibra Hydro- Electric Project and

Bandia Hydel Electric Project.

view

8 Proceedings of a meeting between the chief ministers of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh held at Bangalore on the 17th September, 1975 regarding clearance of projects upstream of Nizamsagar in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. view

9 Proceedings of the meeting between the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh held at Hyderabad on the 6th October, 1975 regarding clearance of the projects on and the use of waters of Godavari River and its tributaries. view

10 proceedings of the meeting between the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh held at New delhi on the 7th November, 1975 regarding the clearance of projects and use of waters of Godavari river and its, tributaries. view

11 Proceedings of the meeting between the chief Ministers of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh held at New Delhi on the 9th December, 1975 regarding the use of waters of Godavari basin and clearance of projects of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. view

12 Agreement Dated 19th December, 1975 among the Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka , Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa regarding the projects in Godavari river basin. view

13 Summary record of discussions of the meeting held between the chief ministers of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh at Bangalore on 4th august,1978. view

14 Summary record of the meeting held between the chief ministers of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh at Bangalore on 4th august, 1978. Regarding constitution of jurala project with FRL(Full Reservoir Level) /MWL of plus 1045 feet above MSL in Krishna Basin. view

15 Agreement Dated 7th August, 1978 entered into between the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. view

16 Proceedings of the meeting between the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and orissa at Hyderabad on the 15th dec. 1978. view

17 Proceedings of the meeting between the chief ministers of Andhra pradesh and Orissa held at Hyderabad on the 15th December, 1978 on sale of power from Machkund. view

18 Agreements on evidenced by the letters of exchange (Annexure I, II and III) regarding sharing of water between Maharashtra and Karnataka states proposed to be diverted from Godavari to Krishna.

(a) Annexure I: D.O Irr. No. PWD 25, BRA Dated 29.1.1979 of shri B.C. Angadi, Special secretary to Govt., I&P Dept. Government of Karnataka, Bangalore addressed to shri V.R.Deuskar, Secretary to govt., Irrigation Deptt., Government of Maharashtra, Bombay.

(b) Annexure II: D.O. Irr. ISW 5179 KG., Dated 30.1.1979 of shri V.R. Deuskar, Secretary to Government, Irrigation Dept., Government of Maharashtra, Bombay, Addressed to shri B.C. Angadi, Special Secretary to Government, Irrigation Department, Govt. of Karnataka, Banglore.

© Annexure III: D.O. Letter No. PWD 25 BRA 78 dt. 31.1.1979 of shri B.C. Angadi, Spl. Secretary to Government, Irrigation department, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, addressed to shri V.R. Deuskar, Secretary to Government, Irrigation dept., Government of Maharashtra, Bombay. view

19 Agreement Dated 11th july, 1979 entered into between the states of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh view

20 Agreement Dated 2nd April, 1980 entered into between the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa on Polavaram Project view