Irrigation profile of Raichur District

Raichur district is situated in northeastern part of Karnataka state. It falls in the Northern Maidan region.The district is bounded on the north by Gulbarga, on the east by the Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. The district has a total geographical area of 8,383 sq kms and is divided into five taluks for administrative convenience. Raichur had population of 1,928,812 of which male and female were 964,511 and 964,301 respectively.

Rivers

Raichur district is popularly known as Do-Aab lies between two important rivers of Karnataka state, Krishna  (North side) and Tungabhadra (South side). Geographic coordinates of district- 15º 33’- 16º 34’ North latitudes and 76º 14’- 77º 36’ East longitudes. 

Major Places

Taking the most south westerly group, the hills of Karigudda, Manvi and Rabhinakal show a continuity along roughly north-west south-east directions, from Sirwar and Yermasagar, running in a roughly south-east direction, may be recognised the hill of Madhugiri, Neermanvi, Gorkal, Kurvi and the one two miles west of Kamalahatti, between Masarakal and Gabbur, a number of gneissic hills are seen at Kakargal. Jinnapur, Hungundabad. Ramdurga, Jagatkal, Khardigud, Maladkal and Gabbur . The hills around Uttanur are seen to be in line with the south-western group of hillocks in the above areaas also the hill-clusters around Kalmala and Kallur, are seen to be situated in the same north-west and South-east disposition as that of the group of gneissic hills enumerated above; and the hills around Raichur, which constitute a prominent landmark in the area, may also be seen roughly to display north-west and south-east trends.

District consists of a mere 18,167 hectares of forests with any significant forest produce worth mentioning.The district is bestowed with varied soil resources comprising 57.6 per cent black and 42.4 per cent red soils.  Within the black soils, 44.2 per cent is deep black soils followed by 41.6 per cent medium black and 14.2 per cent shallow soils.  Among the red soils, 48.9 per cent area is constituted by loamy soils while remaining 51.1 per cent comprises of sandy soils.  The soils are poor in nitrogen, phosphorous, zinc and iron but rich in potassium

Salient irrigation projects

Kanakanala Dam

Kanakanala Dam is a small reservoir built across the river Kanakanala. The river Kanakanala flows through the Krishna basin in Karnataka. The dam is situated in Killarhatti under Kustagi Taluk of Raichur district of Karnataka.The construction of the reservoir was completed in the year 1975. Since then it has been meeting the water demands for irrigation of nearby areas. The reservoir has a length of 975.65 meters and a height of 20.12 meters. It covers a catchment area of 19.2 Th ha.