Amaravathi Dam at Amaravathinagar

Amaravathinagar

Amaravathinagar is a village in the foothills of Annamalai Hills in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, India; 17.6 km south on SH 17 from Udumalpet and around 90 km from Coimbatore city...

, 25 km south on NH 17 from Udumalpet

Udumalaipettai

Udumalai also known as Udumalpet is a town and a municipality in Tirupur district, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Poor Man's Ooty, as it is called, the Udumalpet town is one of the famous summer resorts of Tamil Nadu, surrounded by Mountains on three sides.Its name in the ancient days was "UDUMALAI"...

, is located in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary

Indira Gandhi National Park

Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park is a protected area named after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who visited the park on October 7, 1961. It is often called "Topslip", a village in the northeast corner of the park which is the main visitor center. This name is derived from the local...

 in Coimbatore district

Coimbatore District

Coimbatore District is one of the more affluent and industrially advanced districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Coimbatore is known as the Manchester of South India. It one of the most industrialized towns of Tamil Nadu. It has the highest GDP among the districts of Tamil Nadu, even ahead...

, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The 9.31 km², 33.53 m deep Amaravathi Reservoir

Amaravathi Reservoir

Amaravathi Reservoir at Amaravathinagar, south on SH 17 from Udumalpet, is located in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in Tirupur district, Tamil Nadu, India. The reservoir was created by the steep Amaravathi Dam built across the Amaravathi River. Amaravathi river is tributary...

 was created by this steep dam. It was built primarily for irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 and flood control

Flood control

In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...

 and now also has 4 megawatts of electric generating capacity installed. It is notable for the significant population of Mugger Crocodile

Mugger Crocodile

The mugger crocodile , also called the Indian, Indus, Persian, or marsh crocodile, is found throughout the Indian subcontinent and the surrounding countries...

s living in its reservoir and catchment basin.

History

The dam was built in 1957 during the K. Kamaraj

K. Kamaraj

Kumarasami Kamaraj better known as K. Kamaraj was an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu widely acknowledged as the "Kingmaker" in Indian politics during the 1960s. He was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu during 1954-1963 and a Member of Parliament during 1952-1954 and 1969-1975...

 administration across the Amaravati River

Amaravati River

The Amaravati River is a tributary of Kaveri River in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu state, South India. It is continuation of the Pambar and Chinnar rivers in Kerala.-Route:...

 about 25 km upstream and south from Thirumoorthy Dam. Capacity of the dam has shrunk 25% from 4 tmcft

Tmcft

Tmcft, , , , is the abbreviation for one thousand million cubic feet , commonly used in reference to volume of water in a reservoiror river flow.-Conversion:1 tmcft. is equivalent to:...

 to 3 tmcft due to siltation

Siltation

Siltation is the pollution of water by fine particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments, and to the increased accumulation of fine sediments on bottoms where they are undesirable...

 of the reservoir. during 2003-04, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board proposed to install 4 MW electric generating capacity from the dam, which is now in operation.

Tourism

There is a well laid-out park where one may climb steep steps on the dam to have a picturesque view north of the plains below and south to the Anaimalai Hills

Anaimalai Hills

The Anaimalai Hills is a range of mountains in the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of South India. The name "Anaimalai" derives from the Tamil word 'Ana' meaning elephant and 'Mala' meaning hill, thus Elephant Hill. The highest peak of the Anaimalai Hills is Anamudi, , located in the...

 and Palni Hills

Palni Hills

The Palni Hills are a mountain range in Tamil Nadu state of South India. The Palni Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palni Hills adjoin the high Anamalai range on the west, and extend east into the plains of Tamil Nadu,...

 above. Photo of Park Boating for tourists in the dam began on 14 January 2011.

Photo gallery

• South West View from Dam of Anamalai Hills,
• Photo of Spillway,
• 5:53 Video at the Dam