Khadakwasla

Khadakwasla Dam
Location of Khadakwasla Dam in India Maharashtra
Official name	Khadakwasla Dam
Location	Khadakwasla Village, Pune, Maharashtra India
Coordinates	18°26′30″N 73°46′5″E / 18.44167°N 73.76806°E / 18.44167; 73.76806Coordinates: 18°26′30″N 73°46′5″E / 18.44167°N 73.76806°E / 18.44167; 73.76806
Opening date	1869
Owner(s)	Government of Maharashtra
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Mutha River
Height	31.79 m
Length	1939 m
Reservoir
Creates	Khadakwasla Lake
Total capacity	374 million cubic meter

Khadakwasla Dam is a dam on the Mutha River 20 km (12 mi) from the city of Pune in Maharashtra, India. This dam across the river Mutha created an attractive lake, now known as Khadakwasla Lake. This lake is the main source of water for Pune and its suburbs.

The largest lake in the area is Mulshi lake, some 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Khadakwasla, which has a rather large dam confining it. It releases water into the Mula River, which meanders some 75 km (47 mi) before reaching Pune district near Dapodi and meets up with the Mutha River in Central Pune at the Sangam Bridges and continuing Eastwards via Bund Garden to Daund before joining the River Bhima. Though there is a water supply set-up near Holkar Bridge, next to Bombay Engineering Group and Centre (BEG), there is very little water in the hyacinth-choked Mula River, except during the monsoons.

In the vicinity of Khadakwasla Dam, there is the well-known National Defence Academy, the Institute of Advanced Technology (IAT) earlier collocated with CME, Dapodi and Central Water & Power Research Station (CWPRS). A few kilometres up the road lie Sinhagad Fort and the twin dams of Panshet and Varasgaon which mainly supply water for irrigation. Khadakwasla Dam burst at 0730 hrs on 12 July 1961, causing the greatest ever natural disaster to strike Pune. It was not blown up, as some people have been led to believe-it simply collapsed at the point of greatest impulsive force, unable to withstand the destructive forces generated by three times the quantity of water gushing in from upstream than it was meant to store at peak capacity as placid water.

The Khadakwasla Dam is 1.6 km (1.0 mi) long. The dam has been built on the Mutha River, which begins from the confluence of the rivers Ambi and Mose on which the Panshet and Varasgaon Dams are built, respectively and the outflow from Temgarh Lake through Temgarh Dam about 15 km (9.3 mi) north of Varasgaon Dam. The length of the Khadakwasla backwaters is nearly 22 km (14 mi) and the width varies from 250 to 1,000 m (820 to 3,280 ft). The maximum depth in the lake is 36 m (118 ft). The dam has 11 radial type sluice gates and six irrigation outlets, flowing into two canals as explained below. Of the three feeder lakes, Varasgaon is the largest, followed by Panshet and Temgarh, in that order. The source of Panshet is close to the base of both Raigadh and Torna Forts and Panshet is the highest of the three, some 30 m (98 ft) higher than Khadakwasla. Varasgaon Lake is at the same level as Khadakvasla, and only water released deliberately moves into the Mutha, and then on, to Khadakwasla. Fort Raigadh does not reach the imposing height of Sinhagadh Fort, stopping at 2851 feet above sea level.