Sardar Sarovar Dam - One day picnic spot

The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a gravity dam on the Narmada River near Navagam, Gujarat in India. It is the largest dam and part of the Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation andhydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada River. The project took form in 1979 as part of a development scheme to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity.

You can book a guided tour which will take you through six points around the dam site: a garden; the foundational stone laid by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961; a site with a side view of the flow of the water from the dam; a lake where boating takes place; the first lock gate of the main canal; a trekking site with a nature education camp for students. Near the site is also the Surpaneshwar Shiva temple that the Government had built to replace the original ancient temple that was submerged by the dam. At the foot of the dam is the Kevadia colony, where the employees of the dam live and where there are also places for visitors to stay.

Every monsoon after about a month of good rain which generally happens in the month of July, the river Narmada flows at its peak and the dam overflows.This is the sight to see - the dam overflowing - the air is filled with mist and the view from the first point is breathtaking. view point no. 2 - you can get a birds eye view of the dam but you need to climb up the hill. Further down as you drive along the canal you come across a place where you can park and sit down and enjoy the breeze. 

Essentials - 

1. You must have your vehicle to visit this place. you need take a permit at the entrance which must be submitted at the exit point. So keep it carefully.

2. Please carry food.

entry to dam closes at 5 pm and it takes a couple of hours to visit so make sure you start early and reach in time and leave after sunset.

It is at a 2 Hr. drive from Vadodara and approx 3 Hr. drive from Surat.

Dam Facts :

The Sardar Sarovar Project is one of the largest water resources project of India covering four major states - Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Dam's spillway discharging capacity (30.7 lakhs cusecs) would be third highest in the world.

With 1133 cumecs (40000 cusecs) capacity at the head regulator, and 532 km. length, the Narmada Main Canal would be the largest irrigation canal in the world.

The dam will be the third highest concrete dam (163 meters) in India, the first two being Bhakra (226 metres) in Himachal Pradesh and Lakhwar (192 meters) in Uttar Pradesh. In terms of the volume of concrete involved for gravity dams, this dam will be ranking as the second largest in the world with an aggregate volume of 6.82 million cu.m. The first is Grand Coule Dam in USA with a total volume of 8.0 million cu.m. This dam with its spillway discharging capacity of 85,000 cumecs (30 lakh cusec), will be the third in the world, Gazenba (1.13 lac cumecs) in China and Tucurri (1.0 lac cumecs) in Brazil being the first two.

The Reservoir:

The reservoir would occupy an area of 37,000 ha. and would have a linear stretch of 214 kilometer of water and an average width of 1.77 kilometer. The Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of the Sardar Sarovar Dam is fixed at RL 138.68 metres (455 feet). The Maximum Water Level is 140.21 metres (460 feet.) while minimum draw down level is 110.64 metres (363 feet.). The normal tail water level is 25.91 metres (85 feet.).