The Narmada, the largest flowing Westward, rises near Amarkantak range of mountains in Madhya Pradesh.

It is the fifth largest river in the country and the largest one in Gujarat. It traverses Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat and meets the Gulf of Cambay. The total length of the river from source to sea is 1312 kilometers (815 miles) while the length up to dam site is 1163 kilometers. (723 miles). The width of the river channel at dam site during high floods is 488 meter (1600 feet) and that during summer is 45.70 meter. (150 feet). The maximum recorded flood on 7th September 1994 was 70,847 cusecs (2.5 million cusecs) while minimum recorded flow in summer was 8.5 cusecs (300 cusecs). The dam is designed for 87,000 cusecs (3.07 million cusecs) flood.

Narmada Basin
The total basin area of the river is 97,410 square kilometer comprising 85,858 square kilometer in Madhya Pradesh, 1658 square kilometer in Maharashtra and 9894 square kilometer in Gujarat. The drainage area up to dam site is 88,000 square kilometer. The mean annual rainfall in the basin is 112 centimeters. The annual run of the dam site at 75 percentage of dependability is 27.22 MAF. The World Bank computed the yield of 28.57 MAF while the yield computed in May 1992 by the Central Water Commission, Government of India is of 26.60 MAF, i.e. about 27.00 MAF. The utilisation of Narmada River basin today is hardly about 10%. Thus water of the Narmada continue to flow to the sea unused.

The Sardar Sarovar Project is one of the largest water resources project of India covering four major states Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Dam's spillway discharging capacity (30.7 lakhs cusecs) would be third highest in the world. With 1133 cumecs (40000 cusecs) capacity at the head regulator, and 532 km. length, the Narmada Main Canal would be the largest irrigation canal in the world.

The dam will be the third highest concrete dam (163 meters) in India, the first two being Bhakra (226 metres) in Himachal Pradesh and Lakhwar (192 meters) in Uttar Pradesh. In terms of the volume of concrete involved for gravity dams, this dam will be ranking as the second largest in the world with an aggregate volume of 6.82 million cu.m. The first is Grand Coule Dam in USA with a total volume of 8.0 million cu.m. This dam with its spillway discharging capacity of 87,000 cumecs (30.70 lac), will be the third in the world, Gazenba (1.13 lac cumecs) in China and Tucurri (1.0 lac cumecs) in Brazil being the first two.

The Reservoir:
The reservoir would occupy an area of 37,000 ha. and would have a linear stretch of 214 kilometer of water and an average width of 1.77 kilometer. The Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of the Sardar Sarovar Dam is fixed at RL 138.68 metres (455 feet). The Maximum Water Level is 140.21 metres (460 feet.) while minimum draw down level is 110.64 metres (363 feet.). The normal tail water level is 25.91 metres (85 feet.).

Length of main concrete gravity dam 2 3 4 5 6

1210.00 m Maximum height above deepest foundation level Top R.L. of dam. Catchments area of river above dam site Live storage capacity 0.58M.Ha.m Length of reservoir Maximum width 163.00 m 146.50 m 88,000 Sq. km (4.7 MAF) 214.00 km 16.10 km

Average Width Spillway gates Chute Spillway Service Spillway

1.77 km 7 Nos. 60' x 60' 23 Nos. 60' x 55' 84949.25 cumecs (30 lakh cusecs)

Spillway Capacity

Power Houses 1 River bed power house 1200 MW 2 Canal head power house 250 MW Canal System Main Canal 91.44 m (300 ft) 2 Length upto Gujarat - Rajasthan border 458.00 km 3 Base width in head reach 73.01 m Full supply depth (F.S.D.) in head 4 7.60 m reach Design discharge capacity 1133 cumecs (1) In head reach 5 (40,000 cusecs) 71 cumecs (2) At Gujarat Rajasthan border (2,500 cusecs) 1 Full supply level (F.S.L.) at H.R. Distribution System 1 Numbers of Branches Length of distribution system 2 network 3 Culturable Command Area 38 66000.00 km 18.45 lakh hectares

SURAT: Nearly 2,000 tribals gathered at Paikhed village in Valsad district on Tuesday to protest against the proposed Par-Purna dam project which threatens to displace nearly 25,000 adivasis. The meeting was organised by Par Purna Adivasi Sangathan, a union of tribals and non-government organizations (NGOs) working in the area. The project seeks to link Par, Nar, Tan, Ambika, Khapri and Purna rivers in Dang, Valsad and bordering Maharashtra and create a reservoir from which water will be transferred to the Ukai reservoir on Tapi river through a canal. Linking of Ukai to Narmada main canal at Miangam Karjan is also a part of the project. The project aims at preventing the rivers from draining into the sea and instead diverting it to other areas of Gujarat through a canal. Around 400 km canal will be constructed as part of the project to link the dams with two major dams. At the meeting, a letter was written to the union ministers of tribal affairs and water resources highlighting how around 14,832 tribals (as per 1991 census) will be displaced. "The National Water Development Authority (NWDA) has mentioned the 1991 census figure which is around 25,000 now," said Sujata Shah, member of the Sangathan. "The cost benefit ratio of the Par to Purna project is 1:1.08, which is less than the 1:1.5 for any such project.Due to the project, 19,000 acres will be submerged, of which 9,000 acres is forest land. So with humans, wildlife is also in danger," added Shah. It has been planned to develop seven dams on six rivers in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Estimated cost of the project is around 6,000 crore and NWDA is yet to submit the detailed project report which was scheduled to be submitted in December 2010. The Sangathan has also raised questions about affects on the nearby areas in time of floods. It says that the authorities are yet to study the adverse affects of the project in times of floods which will endanger the lives of thousands.