Tehri dam (November 2004)

Tehri dam is the main dam of the Tehri Hydel Project, a major power project located near Tehri in the state of Uttaranchal in India. Towering 855 feet, the main dam at Tehri is 5th tallest dam in the world. The dam's projected capabilities include an power generation capacity of 2400 MW, stabilise irrigation to an area of 6,000 km² and add another area of 2,700 km², and a supply of 270 million gallons of drinking water to industrialized cities in Delhi,Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. While originally slated to be built with an approximate cost of 4 million US dollars, an equivalent of over 1 billion US dollars has been spent on the construction of the dam to date. ImageMetadata File history File links Tehri_dam. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Tehri_dam. ... Scrivener Dam, in Canberra, Australia, was engineered to withstand a once-in-5000-years flood event A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment. ... Tehri is a town in Uttaranchal state, India. ... Uttaranchal (उत्तरांचल) became the 27th state of the Republic of India on November 9, 2000 after a relatively short and peaceful struggle by its people in the 1990s, having previously comprised part of Uttar Pradesh. ... Hydroelectricity is a form of hydropower used to produce electricity. ... The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (106) watts. ... High-altitude aerial view of irrigation in the Heart of the Sahara Irrigation (in agriculture) is the replacement or supplementation of rainfall with water from another source in order to grow crops. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... One million (1000000), one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999999 and preceding 1000001. ... The gallon (abbr. ... It has been suggested that National Capital Territory of Delhi be merged into this article or section. ... Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, Urdu: اتر پردیش), also popularly known by its acronym UP, is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Union of India. ... Uttaranchal (उत्तरांचल) became the 27th state of the Republic of India on November 9, 2000 after a relatively short and peaceful struggle by its people in the 1990s, having previously comprised part of Uttar Pradesh. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ... Alternate uses: Dollar (disambiguation) The dollar is the name of the official currency in several countries, dependencies and other regions (see list below). ...

The dam project was approved in 1972 and construction was started in 1978. The Tehri Hydel Development Corporation (THDC) was constituted in 1989 to supervise the construction of the dam. The main dam of the project is built near the old Tehri town that lies at the confluence of the rivers Bhagirathi, (one of the major tributary of the river Ganga) and Bhilangana. The main dam will produce 2000 MW of electricity when completed. However, only the Phase-I with capacity of 1000 MW is approved at present. There is another smaller dam 14 km downstream at Koteshwar that will produce 400 MW of electricity. The main reservoir comprises of an area of 42 km². This will sink the old Tehri town and 112 villages around the town, thereby displacing more than 1 lakh people. Scrivener Dam, in Canberra, Australia, was engineered to withstand a once-in-5000-years flood event A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The Bhagirathi is one of the two major tributaries of the Ganga. ... A tributary (or affluent or confluent) is a contributory stream, a river that does not reach the sea, but joins another major river (a parent river), to which it contributes its waters, swelling its discharge. ... The River Ganges (Ganga in Indian languages) is a major river in northern India. ... The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (106) watts. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ...

This dam has been the object of intense protests from environmental groups and the people of this region. The issue of relocation of more than 1 lakh people of the area has resulted in protracted legal battles and has delayed the project. Besides this, environmental concerns regarding the location of large dams in the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayan foothills, there are also concerns regarding the dam's safety. The Tehri dam is located in the Central Himalayan Siesmic Gap, a major geologic fault zone. This region was the site of a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in October 1991, epicentred 50 km from the location of the dam. There already has been a fatal accident in one of the tunnels in Aug, 2004 when a portion of a tunnel collasped follwoing heavy rains. In ecology, an ecosystem is a naturally occurring assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms—also referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a loose unit. ... The Himalaya is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. ... Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ... The moment magnitude scale (a successor to the Richter scale), was introduced in 1979 by Tom Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori and is used by seismologists to compare the energy released by earthquakes. ... Global earthquake epicenters, 1963–1998 An earthquake is a sudden and sometimes catastrophic movement of a part of the Earths surface. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The epicenter is directly above the earthquakes focus. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ...

Following a court clearance, the tunnel T2 of Tehri dam has been finally closed on 29th Oct, 2005 and thereby started the process of filling the massive reservoir. Its planned closure was in Dec, 2002. Two of the lower tunnels, T3 and T4, were closed way back in Dec, 2001. But closing of tunnel T2 has resulted in another controversy as this has reduced supply of Bhagirathi water to a mere 2 cusec from the normal 1000 cusec. According to Hindu mythology, river Bhagirathi is the actual Ganga, though the name of Ganaga is assumed only after the river Bhagirathi meets river Alaknanda at Devprayag. Cutting off the water supply of Bhagirathi to such low quantity means that after travelling more than 80 km from this point, water of Bhagirathi will be hardly reaching Ganaga. Thus to many, sacredness of Ganga has reduced and this has created resentment. But the filling of the dam continues and the project is poised for generation of its first unit of electricity by June, 2006. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural systems of Bharat (India) and Nepal. ... The River Ganges (Ganga in Indian languages) is a major river in northern India. ...

References

• Tehri dam, a factsheet published by the International Rivers Network (October 2002)
• Official website of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited, the organization in charge of the dam's construction
• Tehri: The Sinking Town a traveller's account of Tehri dam

See also

• News articles
  • India goes ahead with Tehri dam (8 December 2001)
  • Indian court clears dam project (2 September 2003)
  • India tunnel collapse toll rises (4 August 2004)

• A Dam Shame, article from Grist Magazine (8 June 2004)

• Photographs
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