Hirakud Dam

Hirakud Dam is situated about 15 kilometers from Sambalpur across the river Mahanadi. Hirakud Dam of Orissa is the longest dam in the world. It is also said to be the first major multipurpose river project after the independence of India. The dam is located about 6 kilometers from NH-6 and about 8 kilometers from Hirakud railway station.

Hirakud Dam at Orissa provides about 1,08,385 hectares of Rabi and about 1,55,635 hectares of Kharif irrigation in the different parts of Orissa. Sambalpur, Subarnpur, Bolangiri and Bargarh are some of the regions that are irrigated with the help of water from the Hirakud Dam. Moreover, the water released from the dam also irrigates about 4,36,000 hectares of land in the Mahanadi delta region.

The installed power generation capacity of Hirakud Dam in Orissa is about 307.5 MW. The two power houses of the dam are located at Chiplima and Burla. It is noteworthy that the dam provides flood protection in the districts of Puri and Cuttack. Hirakud Dam protects about 9500 square kilometers of delta area in the aforesaid districts.

Hirakud Dam is a composite structure, which is about 4.8 kilometers in length. With a storage capacity of 8136 cubic meters, the dam has a total catchment area of 83400 square kilometers. Hirakud Dam is situated between the Chandili Dungiri and Lamdungri hills. The dam also possesses 21 kilometers of long earthen dykes and is about 25.8 kilometers in length. Besides being the longest dam, Hirakud dam also has the biggest artificial lake in Asia.