Palar

The Palar Basin is an important basin among the 12 basins lying between the Pennar and the Cauvery basins. This basin is divided into three major topographical divisions namely, i) the hill ranges of Eastern Ghats ii) the plateau region and iii) the coastal plains. Though most of the drainage area lies in Tamil Nadu, its drainage area extends to cover the South-East and South-Western parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh respectively. The shape of the basin is rhombus and finds its outlet in to Bay of Bengal.

The Palar drains an area of 17,871 Sq.Kms out of which nearly 57 percent lies in Tamil Nadu and the balance in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The State wise distribution of the drainage area is given below:

The river Palar rises beyond Talagvare village in the Kolar district of Karnataka state at an elevation of about 900 m above m.s.l. The total length of this East flowing river from its origin to its outfall into the Bay of Bengal is about 348 Km. The flow is generally in the South-Easterly direction for the first 93 Km. Then it flows through the Kolar District of Karnataka, before entering the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, through which it flows for another 33 Kms. After passing through the States of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh the river enters the Vellore District of Tamil Nadu. After traversing for another 222 Kms in Vellore and Kanchipuram Districts in Tamil Nadu, the river Palar finally discharges into Bay of Bengal near Kuvattur. On its way, the river Palar receives two important tributaries namely, the Poini on the left bank and the Cheyyar on the right bank. These two important tributaries i.e the Poini and the Cheyyar, together account for nearly 25 percent of the total catchment of the Palar basin. The Poini rises in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh at an elevation of 1,050 m and flows generally in the Easterly and South-Easterly direction before joining the Palar on its left bank near Walajapet. The Cheyyar, another major tributary rises in the Jawadu hills in the Chengam taluk of Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu and flows generally in the North-Easterly direction before confluencing with the Palar near Tirumukkudal.The catchment area, length and elevation at source of these two tributaries are given below: