Hemavati River

Subject – Geography

Context – Decades after dam on Hemavati, scam emerges.

Concept –

The Hemavati River starts in the Western Ghats at an elevation of about 1,219 metres near Balur in Mudigere taluk of Chikmagalur District of the state of Karnataka, in southern India.
It flows through Hassan District where it is joined by its chief tributary, the Yagachi River, and then into Mandya district before joining the Kaveri near Krishnarajasagara.
It is an important tributary of the Kaveri River.
A dam across the Hemavati was completed in 1979, above Gorur in Hassan district, and downstream from the Yagachi confluence.

The Cauvery River

The Cauvery River (Kaveri) is designated as the ‘Dakshina Ganga’ or ‘the Ganga of the South’.
The Cauvery River rises at an elevation of 1,341 m at Talakaveri on the Brahmagiri range near Cherangala village of Kodagu (Coorg) district of Karnataka.
The total length of the river from origin to an outfall is 800 km.
It flows in a southeasterly direction for 705 km through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and descends the Eastern Ghats in a series of great falls.
Left Bank: the Harangi, the Hemavati, the Shimsha, and the Arkavati.
Right Bank: Lakshmantirtha, the Kabbani, the Suvarnavati, the Bhavani, the Noyil, and the Amaravati joins from the right.
At Hogennekkal Falls, it takes a Southerly direction and enters the Mettur Reservoir.
A tributary called Bhavani joins Cauvery on the Right bank about 45 Kms below Mettur Reservoir. Thereafter it enters the plains of Tamil Nadu.
Two more tributaries Noyil and Amaravathi join on the right bankand here the river widens with a sandy bed and flows as ‘Akhanda Cauvery
Many projects were completed in this basin which
- Included Krishnarajasagar in Karnataka, Mettur dam and Cauvery delta system in Tamil Nadu. LowerBhavani, Hemavati, Harangi, Kabini are important projects completed duing the plan period.