Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) : Massive Flooding
The recent release of massive amounts of water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) has caused massive flooding in low-lying areas in the Narmada district.
- Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River at Kevadia in Gujarat’s Narmada district.
- The dam was named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
- Having a length of 1.2 km and a depth of 163 m, it is the third-highest concrete dam in India, the first two being Bhakra (226 metres) in Himachal Pradesh and Lakhwar (192 meters) in Uttar Pradesh.
- In terms of the volume of concrete involved in gravity dams, this dam will be ranked as the second largest in the world after the Grand Coulee Dam in the USA.
- It is a part of the Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada River.
- The dam has two powerhouses – a canal head powerhouse and a river bed powerhouse with an installed capacity of 250 MW and 1,200 MW, respectively.
- The dam forms a vast reservoir known as the “Sardar Sarovar Reservoir” or “Narmada Lake,” which spans across several districts in Gujarat.
