Krishna River

Course

The Krishna River originates in the Western Ghats near Mahabaleshwar, at an elevation of about 1,300 metres (4,300 ft), in the state of Maharashtra in central India. From Mahabaleshwar, it flows to the town of Wai, and continues east until it empties into the Bay of Bengal. The Krishna River passes through the Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Over its 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) length, it flows for 305 km (190 mi) in Maharashtra, 483 km (300 mi) in Karnataka, and 612 km (380 mi) in Andhra Pradesh.

Tributaries

The Krishna River has 13 major tributaries. Its principal tributaries include the Ghataprabha River, Malaprabha River, Bhima River, Tungabhadra River, and Musi River. The Tungabhadra River has a catchment area of 71,417 km² (27,574 sq mi) and a length of 531 km (330 mi). The Bhima River is the longest tributary of the Krishna River. It has a total length of 861 km (535 mi) and a catchment area of 70,614 km² (27,264 sq mi).

Three tributaries, Panchganga, Warana, and Yerla, meet the Krishna River near Sangli. Hindus consider these places holy. It is said that Dattatreya, one of the Hindu deities, spent some of his days at Audumber on the banks of the Krishna.

Kudalasangama (also spelled as Kudala Sangama) is located about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the Almatti Dam in Bagalkote district of Karnataka state. It is situated at the confluence of the Krishna and Malaprabha rivers. The Aikya Mantapa or the holy Samādhi of Basavanna, the founder of the Lingayat Hindu sect along with the Linga, which is believed to be self-born (Swayambhu), is here and the river flows east towards Srisailam (another pilgrim center) Andhra Pradesh

Krishna Basin

The Krishna Basin extends over an area of 258,948 km² (99,980 sq mi), which is nearly 8% of the total geographical area of the country. This large basin lies in the states of Karnataka (113,271 km²), Telangana, Andhra Pradesh (76,252 km²), and Maharashtra (69,425 km²). It is the fifth-largest basin in India.Most of this basin comprises a rolling and undulating country, except for the western border, which is formed by an unbroken line of the Western Ghats. The important soil types found in the basin are black soils, red soils, laterite and lateritic soils, alluvium, mixed soils, red and black soils, and saline and alkaline soils.

An average annual surface water potential of 78.1 km³ has been assessed in this basin. Out of this, 58.0 km³ is utilizable water. The culturable area in the basin is about 203,000 km² (78,000 sq mi), which is 10.4% of the total cultivable area of the country. As the water availability in the Krishna River was becoming inadequate to meet the water demand, the Godavari River was linked to the Krishna River by commissioning the Polavaram right bank canal with the help of the Pattiseema lift scheme in the year 2015 to augment water availability to the Prakasam Barrage in Andhra Pradesh. The irrigation canals of Prakasam Barrage form part of National Waterway 4. The Krishna-Godavari delta is known as "Rice Granary of India."

Mineral deposits

The Krishna River basin is endowed with rich mineral deposits such as oil and gas, coal, iron, limestone, dolomite, gold, granite, laterite, uranium, diamonds, etc. The following are the few noted deposits:

• Krishna Godavari Basin, oil and gas
• Yellandu, coal
• Bayyaram Mines, iron
• Kudremukh, iron
• Donimalai, iron
• Jaggayapeta mines, dolomite
• Nalgonda uranium deposits
• Kollur Mine, diamonds
• Hatti Gold Mines

Flora and fauna

A widespread area near the Krishna River holds rich flora and fauna. The last surviving Mangrove forests in the Krishna estuary have been designated as the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is the home to a large number of resident and migratory birds. Fishing cats, otters, Estuarine crocodiles, spotted deer, sambar deer, blackbucks, snakes, lizards and jackals can also be spotted in the sanctuary. The sanctuary also supports rich vegetation with plants like Rhizophora, Avicennia, and Aegiceros. The following are a few other wildlife sanctuaries located in the Krishna Basin.

• Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve
• Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary
• Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary
• Ghataprabha Bird Sanctuary
• Gudavi Bird Sanctuary
• Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary
• Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary
• Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary
• Chandoli National Park
• Kudremukh National Park
• Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park
• Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park
• Mrugavani National Park
• Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary
• Ranibennur Blackbuck Sanctuary
• Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary
• Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Bellary

Waterfalls

A few waterfalls are located in the river basin, including:

• Ethipothala on Chandravanka River which is the tributary of Krishna River
• Godchinamalaki on Markandeya River a tributary of Ghataprabha
• Gokak on Ghataprabha
• Mallela Theertham

Water outflows to the sea

The average annual water availability (precipitation minus natural evapotranspiration) is 86.32 billion cubic meters (3047 tmcft). The yearly water outflows to the sea in a water year from 1 June 2003 to 31 May 2022 (19 years) are given below

Interstate water sharing

At present, the award of the Bachawat tribunal dated 31 May 1976 is applicable for sharing the water available in the river among the riparian states. The Brijesh Kumar tribunal award given on 29 November 2013 was challenged by Andhra Pradesh in the Supreme Court and the case has been pending since then. The newly created state of Telangana also approached the Supreme Court demanding a fresh tribunal hearing to secure its water needs on an equitable basis.

Even though the river does not flow through Tamil Nadu, the Telugu Ganga Project is a canal system that brings Krishna River water to that state's capital city of Chennai with the agreement of all basin states.

Places and temples

This river is revered by Hindus as sacred. The river is also believed to remove all the sins of those who bathe in it. The centre of attraction is the Krishna Pushkaram fair which is held once in twelve years on the banks of the Krishna River. There are many pilgrimage places in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the course of the river. The first holy place on the river Krishna is at Wai, known for the Mahaganpati Mandir and Kashivishweshwar temple. It has seven ghats along the river. Temples like Dattadeva temple, which is revered by the people of Maharashtra, are located on the banks of Krishna at Narsobawadi, ankalkhop Audumbar near Sangli. Yadur is one of the important holy places in Karnataka which is located on the bank of Krishna. Veerabhadra temple is a famous temple. Many devotees visit this place from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Also, located on the banks of the river Krishna is the Sangameshwar Shiva temple at Haripur. Some of the other temples are the Kanaka Durga Temple in Vijayawada, Ramling temple near Sangli, Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga (Srisailam), Amareshwara Swamy Temple, Vedadri Narasimha Temple, Vadapalli temple in Nalgonda, Dattadeva temple, and Sangameshwara Shiva temples at Alampur and Gadwal in Telangana.

Bhilawadi town in Maharashtra has a large stone structure constructed across the Krishna River bank, also known as Krishna Ghat. This structure also includes one large and one small temple constructed in the middle of the river. This structure is believed to have been constructed in 1779.

The Krishna River annually submerges the Sangameswaram temple and is visible to devotees only during the summer when the reservoir's water level falls.

Bridges

The Krishna River is spanned by several bridges along its course, some of which are listed below.

• Krishna Bridge, Wai, Maharashtra – This bridge was demolished in 2021 which was located in the Dharmpuri Peth area of the town of Wai, and was one of the oldest bridges that were built by the British in India. It spans the Krishna over nine kamans (arches) and is made of black rock. The bridge serves as a flood mark (when the water rises to the level of the road on the bridge) for the "Waikar" people.
• Irwin Bridge, Sangli – This is one of the oldest, historic and largest bridges over the Krishna that were built by the British. The Irwin Bridge, which is built of reddish stone, has two passages where one can climb down to the river in the middle of its span to view the water.
• Ankali Bridge, Sangli Maharashtra – This bridge is a major link between Sangli and Kolhapur districts. At this point, there are three bridges, one for railway and two for roadways. Out of two roadway bridges, one bridge in the direction towards Miraj was built in the Nineteenth century under the British Administration. It is still in operation. The railway bridge was constructed at the time of the laying of the Kolhapur to Pune rail link. The contractor for the rail bridge was V. R. Ranade & Sons from Pune. The construction of this railway bridge and culverts on railway routes in nearby regions were constructed by them in 1882–1884.
• Kudachi – Ugar Railway bridge was built by the British in 1891.
• B. Soundatti Bridge, Raibag – This is also one of the oldest bridges built during the British rule. This bridge connects Maharashtra to Karnataka state.
• Tangadagi Bridge, This is one of the oldest bridges that connects the Bijapur and the Bagalkot districts of Karnataka. God Neelambika Temple is there at the bank of the Krishna River.
• Chikkapadasalagi bridge, is one of the oldest bridges, built in the British era it connects Jamakhandi and Vijayapur.
• Jambagi Bridge, Jamkhandi : Recently built bridge connects Athani, Bijapur and Jamkhandi.
• Galagali Bridge of Galagali village, Bagalkot: very important bridge that connects many towns and villages of Bagalkot and Vijayapur districts.

• Krishna Bridge near Shakti Nagar, Raichur district was built in memory of the travel undertaken by Nawab Javvadjaha Bahadur, the prince of Hyderabad, to Raichur in the early 20th-century. The bridge was named after the prince as Sirat-e-joodi. The construction began in 1933 and completed in 1943

In October 2009, heavy floods occurred, isolating 350 villages and leaving millions homeless, which is believed to be the first occurrence in 1000 years. The flood resulted in heavy damage to Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Guntur, Krishna and Nalagonda Districts. The entire city of Kurnool was immersed in approximately 10 ft (3 m) water for nearly 3 days.

Water inflow of 1,110,000 cu ft/s (31,000 m³/s) was recorded at the Prakasam Barrage, which surpassed the previous record of 1,080,000 cu ft/s (31,000 m³/s) recorded in the year 1903. Krishna River is the second largest east-flowing river of the peninsula. The flood waters of Krishna and Godavari rivers can be fully utilized by exporting water to other east-flowing peninsular rivers up to the Vaigai River in Tamil Nadu by constructing a coastal reservoir on the Bay of Bengal sea area.

Dams

There are many dams constructed across the Krishna River.

• Dhom Dam
• Hippargi barrage
• Almatti Dam
• Narayanpur Dam
• Bhima Dam
• Jurala Dam
• Srisailam Dam
• Nagarjuna Sagar Dam
• Nagarjuna Sagar tail pond
• Pulichinthala Dam
• Prakasam Barrage
• Tungabhadra Dam
• Rajolibanda barrage
• Sunkesula barrage

Hydroelectric power stations

The Krishna River is one of the rivers whose water energy is harnessed to a large extent by various hydroelectric power stations in India. The following is the list of hydroelectric power stations excluding small and medium installations.

Pollution and Ecology affect

Most of the years, the river water does not join the sea due to the full utilisation of water mainly in agriculture. The closed river basin of Krishna means that the river ecosystem is on the verge of death. The river receives waste from a large number of cities and the river basin population has increased to 80 million, increasing pollution load many fold into the river. Adequate average and minimum continuous environmental flows to the sea are not taking place in most of the years constricting salt export and leading to the formation of saline and sodic alkaline soils in the lower reaches of the river basin. High alkalinity water is discharged from the ash dump areas of many coal-fired power stations into the river which further increases the alkalinity of the river water whose water is naturally of high alkalinity since the river basin is draining vast areas of basalt rock formations. The following are the few coal-fired power stations located in the river basin.

Floods

In 2009, the river experienced flooding due to heavy rainfall in Karnataka, which forced the opening of the Almatti and Narayanpur dam gates on the Krishna River.

2024 floods

In early September 2024, Vijayawada, a city in Andhra Pradesh, India, experienced severe flooding triggered by exceptionally heavy rainfall that began on 31 August 2024. The floods resulted in at least 35 deaths in NTR district and significantly impacted approximately 270,000 people in Vijayawada alone. During this time, the Krishna River also experienced unprecedented flooding, and due to continuous heavy rainfall, the river saw record inflows, with the Prakasam Barrage discharging 33,000 cubic metres (1,180,000 cu ft) per second of water, the highest in its 70-year history. This massive release was necessary as the barrage reached its capacity, and all 70 gates were opened to manage the excess water. The inflows were intensified by torrential rains in the upstream regions, including the Pulichintala and Nagarjuna Sagar projects. The barrage's total capacity of 34,000 cubic metres (1,190,000 cu ft) per second was overwhelmed, leading to the temporary suspension of vehicle and pedestrian movement across the structure for safety reasons. The floods inundated low-lying residential areas in Vijayawada and several villages downstream, causing significant damage to infrastructure, homes and agricultural land.

2025 floods

In August 2025, the Krishna River basin in Karnataka faced renewed flood threats following continuous heavy rainfall. The Almatti Dam released 2.5 lakh cusecs of water, and the Krishna River at Rajapur Barrage recorded inflows of 1.4 lakh cusecs. Authorities issued flood alerts, evacuated residents from vulnerable areas, and established relief centres to manage the situation.