Pazhassi Dam


The Pazhassi Dam also called Kulur Barrage is a stone masonry diversion structure in Kannur district, Kerala, India. It is named after king Pazhassi Raja, a local warrior. The dam is constructed across the west flowing Valapattanam River near VELIYAMBRA. It was commissioned by Prime Minister Morarji Desai in 1979. It mainly functions as an irrigation dam, serving a command area of in Thalassery and Thaliparambra taluks of the Kannur District. The water from this dam also meets the drinking water requirement of Kannur district. The dam site and the reservoir are famous for their scenic beauty.

Topography

The dam is built at Kuyiloor across the Valapattanam River, in the basin of the West flowing rivers from Tadri to Kanyakumari. It rises in the Coorg at and drains a catchment area of. The mean annual rainfall in the catchment is. The nearest towns to the dam site are Mattanur and Iritty.

Features

The diversion dam or barrage, built with stone masonry to function as a major irrigation project, is in height and has a length of. At the Full Reservoir Level of, with a water spread area of, the dam has a gross storage capacity of. The spillway designed to rout a design flood discharge of per second is fitted with 16 radial gates over a length of.
While the dam was completed in 1978, its irrigation component was completed in 1979. The water stored in the reservoir is diverted for irrigation through a control structure on the left bank of the barrage to the main canal of length, designed to carry a discharge of per second. The gross command area under the canal system is with a net command area of to mainly raise three crops of paddy every year in the Iritty and Taliparamba taluks of Kannur district; other crops grown in the command are coconut, arecanut, cashew nut, tapioca, pepper, ginger, turmeric and vegetables. The network of canals includes six branch canals of total length and 32 distributaries of total length. The entire command is covered under the Command Area Development Programme of the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India and is being monitored since 2003.

Failure of gates

On 7 August 2012, some of the gates of the barrage failed to open, causing the flood waters to overflow the barrage for 20 hours. There was no damage to life or the dam structure, but minor property and crop loss occurred. The gates were repaired at a cost of Rs 70 million.

Pazhassi Dam Gardens