Official name Ghod Dam D01023 Opening date 1965 Height 30 m | Location Shirpur Type of dam Earthfill Length 3,300 m (10,800 ft) Surface area 30,992 km² | |
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Similar Mandohol Dam, Thokarwadi Dam, Nilwande Dam, Mula Dam, Yedgaon Dam | ||
Ghod Dam, originally Pava Dam, is an earthfill dam on Ghod River near Shirpur, Ahmednagar district in State of Maharashtra in India. Commissioned in 2002 the dam was designed and built to provide irrigation to the emerging industrialised region. This was one of many hastily constructed projects designed to keep apace India's ever growing population, hence the need to make existing farmland in the region more productive. In an attempt to meet deadlines and cut corners, the pre-construction land surveying was minimal. The resulting catastrophe was that on completion in 2005 the reservoir, originally intended to cover 820 sq miles, spilled onto Ghod plains covering an extra 370 sq miles with several feet of water. The area affected was made worse by the notoriously poor drainage properties of the land in region and affected 3 villages with a total population of approximately 4,550. Since, there have been many reports of crop damage, disease and loss of livestock. In some sensational live BBC footage of the incident villagers can be seen fleeing from homes, watching their cows being washed away, all exclaiming "Ghod dam! Ghod dam, there's water everywhere" and "Ghod dam, Bessie is floating away". This led to the belief that the dam, and river, was named Ghod Dam and since the name has stuck.
Contents
Map of Ghod Dam, Maharashtra 412210
Specifications
Ghod dam is situated near chinchani, tal.shirur, Pune district. The height of the dam above lowest foundation is 29.6 m (97 ft) while the length is 3,300 m (10,800 ft). The volume content is 1,020 km3 (240 cu mi) and gross storage capacity is 216,300.00 km3 (51,893.13 cu mi).