Major Dams and Barrages of Odisha

Rengali Multipurpose Project

The Rengali Dam, located across the Brahmani River near Rengali in Angul district, is the second-largest dam in Odisha after Hirakud. Construction began in 1975 and the dam was commissioned in 1985. It is a composite gravity and earthen dam with a total length of about 2.4 kilometres and a maximum height of 70.5 metres above the riverbed. The reservoir, known as the Rengali Reservoir, has a live storage capacity of 3,400 million cubic metres and a water spread area of about 378 square kilometres at Full Reservoir Level. The project was designed as a multi-purpose one with irrigation, power generation, and flood control objectives. The hydroelectric power station at the dam toe has an installed capacity of 120 megawatts (4 units of 30 MW each), generating approximately 160 million units of electricity annually. The Rengali Right Canal System provides irrigation to about 2.5 lakh hectares in Angul, Dhenkanal, and Jajpur districts, transforming the agriculture of the lower Brahmani valley. The dam also regulates the flow of the Brahmani, moderating floods in the deltaic region downstream, including the Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts. The Samal Barrage, located further downstream on the Brahmani near Talcher, diverts water into a canal system for irrigation and the Talcher industrial complex.

Upper Indravati Project

The Upper Indravati Hydroelectric Project is one of the largest and most ambitious river valley projects in Odisha, located in the remote Kalahandi and Nabarangpur districts, in the south-western tribal region of the state. The project harnesses the waters of the Indravati River (a tributary of the Godavari) by constructing four dams across the Indravati and its tributaries — the main dam at Kapur (across the Indravati), and three auxiliary dams across the Podagada, Kapur, and Muran rivers. These dams, connected by a series of tunnels and link channels, divert the waters of the Indravati basin from the Godavari catchment to the Mahanadi catchment, a trans-basin diversion scheme. The water is taken through a head race tunnel of 7 kilometres to the powerhouse at Mukhiguda, dropping from an elevation of 858 metres, to generate 600 megawatts of hydropower (4 units of 150 MW each).

The tailrace water from the powerhouse is then led into the Upper Indravati Canal System, which provides irrigation to an estimated 1.36 lakh hectares in Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, and Koraput districts — regions that were historically among the most drought-prone in Odisha. The project has had a transformative effect on the agrarian economy of this tribal belt, enabling double cropping and the cultivation of high-value crops. However, the project also involved the displacement of approximately 2,000 families, mostly tribes of the Kalahandi region, and submerged over 200 square kilometres of forest and inhabited land. The construction of this project in the remote and rugged terrain of the Eastern Ghats was a major engineering feat, involving the establishment of construction infrastructure — roads, housing, workshops — in an area that previously had minimal connectivity.

Balimela Project and Upper Kolab

The Balimela Project is a joint venture between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on the Sileru River, a tributary of the Sabari (which itself joins the Godavari), in the Malkangiri-Koraput region. The Balimela Dam, a gravity dam, with a powerhouse located underground on the left bank, generates 360 megawatts of hydropower (6 units of 60 MW), shared between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The project involves the diversion of the Sileru waters through tunnels. While primarily a hydroelectric project, Balimela also provides limited irrigation in the Malkangiri region through lift schemes. The Upper Kolab Project in Koraput district, across the Kolab River (a tributary of the Godavari), is another multi-purpose project with an installed hydropower capacity of 320 megawatts and irrigation for approximately 47,000 hectares in the Koraput plateau. These two projects, together with Upper Indravati, have transformed the power scenario of the tribal-dominated southern highlands.

Other Notable Dams and Barrages

The Naraj Barrage at the delta head near Cuttack is a crucial hydraulic structure that diverts the flow of the Mahanadi into the Mahanadi delta canal system, the heart of the coastal plain irrigation network. The Jobra Anicut, built in 1865, was the predecessor of the Naraj Barrage and remains a functioning structure. In addition to these major and medium structures, Odisha has thousands of minor irrigation projects — check dams, anicuts, diversion weirs, and percolation tanks — built by the Department of Water Resources and the Watershed Mission. These small structures, though individually modest, collectively serve a large number of villages and are often more reliable and equitable than large canal systems, especially in the undulating terrain of the tribal districts. A central focus of contemporary water resource planning in Odisha is the completion of ongoing projects (many of which have been delayed for decades due to funding, land acquisition, and resettlement issues) and the improvement of water use efficiency through micro-irrigation and participatory management.