Koyna Dam

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Koyna Dam

Date
Built in:	1962 - 1963
Height of dam:	103 metres
Water storage:	2,797.400 km³
Volume of dam:	1,555.000 m³
Width of dam:	808 m
Slope at water side:	24:1
Length of lake:	60 km

Koyna Dam is one of the largest dams in Maharashtra, India. It is located in Koyna Nagar, nestled in the Western Ghats on the state highway between Chiplun and Karad, Maharashtra. The dam supplies water to western Maharashtra as well as cheap hydroelectric power to the neighbouring areas with a capacity of 1,920 MW. The Koyna project is actually composed of four dams, with the Koyna dam having the largest catchment area.

The catchment area dams the Koyna River and forms a huge lake — the Shivajisagar Lake whose length is 50 kilometres. Completed in 1963, it is one of the largest civil engineering projects commissioned after Indian independence. The Koyna electricity project is run by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Most of the generators are located in excavated caves a kilometre deep, inside the heart of the surrounding hills.

The dam is blamed for the spate of earthquakes in the recent past. In 1967 a devastating earthquake almost razed the dam, with the dam developing major cracks. Geologists are still uncertain if the Koyna Dam is responsible for the spate in seismic activity.