Cusecs Candidate- Memoirs of an engineer – Dr.K.L.Rao, Metropolitan 1976.

 The Polavaram dam was the dream-child of S.V.Ramamurthi I.C.S. one of the ablest administrators this country has produced.  He realised that the waters of the Godavari were going to waste in the flood period while the farmers badly wanted water for growing rabi and hot weather crops during the months January-April.  The dam site was selected by Madras engineers at Polavaram where the mighty Godavari comes out of a very narrow gorge.  The river is barely 200 to 300 m. wide at that place, while at Dowlaishwaram lower down, it is 7 km. Wide.  To convey discharges ranging up to 85,000 cumecs, the river has eroded its bed rock deep.  The depth of the pools in the gorge are as much as 80 to 100 m.  At the exit from the gorge the eroded bed is filled with sand so that the depth of the sound rock foundations is nearly 80 m. This presents indeed a very challenging task.  But when natural resources have to be developed, many such difficult problems have to be tackled.  At the Parker Dam on the Colorado, the American engineers went down to similar depths.  The Polavaram Dam was proposed to be as high as possible, but not higher than the feet of Lord Rama at the Bhadrachalam Temple, located on the banks of the Godavari river 125 km. Upstream of the Polavaram Dam site.  Sir Ramamurthi christened the reservoir as Ramapadasagar as it would stretch up to the feet of Lord Rama.  The live capacity of the reservoir would have been 19,000 million cum.  If constructed at that time it would have cost about Rs.130 crores of rupees.  Several times this amount has been paid by us to other countries for the import of food-grains, money which could have been saved had the dam been built. (p.no.19)

The Ramapadasagar Project presented only one difficulty and this was the immense depth at which rock was available for foundation.  Difficulties of excavation through sand and clay, with heavy seepage of water that is expected at great depths were well known from the beginning.  At our invitation Dr.Terzaghi came to India in 1947 and after detailed study of the Project wrote out one of his best reports dealing with the experimental excavation. (p.no.25).

- Cusecs Candidate- Memoirs of an engineer – Dr.K.L.Rao, Metropolitan 1976.