Flood Problem During the monsoon, the Godavari river spills its banks in the lower reaches downstream

of confluence of river Indravathi with Godavari causing floods. In Maharashtra, the problem is confined to the Nanded Town situated on the banks of the river as also to the agricultural lands on the banks of the river in Nanded and Parbhani districts and those on the banks of the Wardha and Wainganga in the Vidharbha region. The parts of the basin lying in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Karnataka have generally no serious flood problems. The flooding of deltaic areas has been prevented by construction of embankments. The major flood prone areas of Godavari basin are shown in Figure-1.

Importance of Flood Forecasting in Godavari Basin Structural methods of flood control which include construction of reservoirs for storage of flood waters, improving the river channel to increase its flood carrying capacity and construction of embankments and levees, are not always technically feasible and economically viable to control the floods. It has been recognised that loss of human life and property can be reduced to a great extent by giving reliable advance warning about the incoming floods. In Godavari basin, embankments have been constructed to prevent the flooding of deltaic areas. However, considerably long reaches of the river upstream of the delta

are vulnerable to floods. Scientific flood forecasting and advance warning have been found to be extremely beneficial to reduce the flood damages in these reaches. Flood Forecasting Activity in Godavari Basin Beginning of Flood Forecasting Activity Flood forecasting activity in Godavari Basin started in 1974 with the opening of a Division office of Central Water Commission at Pochampad (Sriramsagar Dam). In 1975 the Division office was shifted from Pochampad to Hyderabad for better management and communications. The first forecasts of the river stage in the Godavari were issued by this Division during 1975 monsoon for Dowlaiswaram Anicut (Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage) and are being continued since then. Presently, stage forecasts are issued on regular basis for 14 stations located on the main Godavari and its tributaries. Inflow forecasts are also issued for the four reservoirs (Jaikwadi Dam, Sriramsagar, Singur Dam and Nizamsagar) on the main Godavari and Manjira. River stage forecasts and advance warnings enable the concerned authorities to take appropriate precautionary measures to minimize loss of life and property. Reservoir inflow forecasts help in reservoir regulation. The flood forecasting network in Godavari basin is shown in Figure-2.

Present Organisational Setup To facilitate forecasting of floods, the Central Water Commission has established a network of river gauge, discharge and rainfall stations in Godavari Basin. The administrative management of these stations is divided among the three divisions, namely Lower Godavari Division, Upper Godavari Division and Wainganga Division. The Lower Godavari Division and Upper Godavari Division with headquarters at Hyderabad function under the control of Superintending Engineer, Godavari Circle, Hyderabad, within the organisational jurisdiction of Chief Engineer, Krishna & Godavari Basin, Hyderabad. The Wainganga Division with headquarters at Nagpur functions under the control of the Superintending Engineer (Co-ordination), Nagpur, within the organisational jurisdiction of the Chief Engineer (Monitoring - Central), Nagpur. Data Collection Network The network of river gauge, discharge and rainfall stations transmit the data collected on real-time basis to the flood forecasting centre in the Lower Godavari Division at Hyderabad, using high frequency (HF) wireless sets. The details of river gauging and rainfall stations in Godavari Basin, connected by wireless network are given in Statement-1 and schematic diagram on Data Collection Network is shown in Figure- 4. The river gauge is observed at every hour on all days from 15th June to 15th October. River discharge is observed once in a day. The river gauges at the gauging stations are connected to GTS benchmark. Rainfall is observed normally twice in a day and three hourly during the flood season at all the rain gauges maintained by Central Water Commission. Additional rainfall data, the daily weather situation, the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast and the outlook for subsequent two days are being supplied by Flood Meteorological Office of the India Meteorological Department, Hyderabad.

Details of river gauging and rainfall stations in Godavari Basin, connected by wireless network
S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. Type of Stations Gauge & Discharge with Rainfall Gauge & Rainfall Rainfall Control Rooms No. of Sites 31 30 4 1

DETAILS OF WIRELESS STATIONS IN GODAVARI BASIN Sl. No. Name River Latitude Wireless station maintained by Maharashtra State Govt. 20 Wireless station maintained by Maharashtra State Govt. 20 19-56-43 19-54 19-32 19-20 19-30-15 19-28 19-13-10 18-58-15 19-35-27 19-23-41 40501 40805 36603 Wireless station maintained by Maharashtra State Govt. 17-45 Wireless station maintained by Maharashtra State Govt. 18/12/2020 18-32-44 40317 77-55-30 77-34-39 77-58 77-56 73 74-19-59 74-30 74-52 74-20-30 74-57-30 75-23-31 76-21-49 76-46-13 76-56-49 76-46-24 77-02 77-20-34 77-03 RGDBS R/G/D BS R/G FS R/G/D BS RGD BS Data Collected through Singur R/G BS R/G BS R/G FS R/G/D BS R/G BS R/G BS R/G FS R/G/D BS R/G FS 73 Longitude Remarks

1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Gangapur Dam Nasik Dharna Dam Palkhed N.M. Weir Kopergaon Pachegaon Mula Dam Lasur Jaikwadi Dam Dhalegaon Gangakhed Siddeshwar Zari Purna Nanded Saigon Karanja Dam Singur Sangareddy Barrage Nizamsagar Degloor Bhainsa

Godavari Godavari Dharna Kadawa Godavari Godavari Pravara Mula Shiv Godavari Godavari Godavari Purna Dudhna Purna Godavari Manjira Karanja Manjira Manjira Manjira Lendi Siddhavagu

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Mancherial Aurangabad Nizamabad Sriramsagar P.G.Bridge Bhatpalli Hivra Nandgaon Ghugus Balharsha Balaghat Rajegaon Sitakesa Bhandara Ramakona K.R.Bridge Pauni Ashti Tekra Nagpur Air Port Chandrapur Nowrangpur Kosagumda Jagdalpur Chindnar Tumnar Pathagudem

Godavari

18-51-01 19-51 18-38-57

79-26-40 75-10 78-06-05 78-20 78-34 79-27-57 78-19-36 78-46-26 79-06 79-22 80-10-38 80-14-14 79-48 79-40 78-49-24 79-13-58 79-39 79-47 79-58 79-03 79-18 82-32-24 82-14 82-03 81-18 81-14-20 80-18

Godavari Penganga Peddavagu Wardha Wunna Wardha Wardha Wainganga Bagh Bawanthadi Wainganga Kanhan Kanhan Wainganga Wainganga Pranhita

18-55 19-49 19-18-47 20-32-49 20-31-00 19-56 19-48 21-52-57 21-37-16 21-35 21-Oct 21-43-08 21-13-08 20-49 19-41 18-57 40350 19-58

Indravathi Bhaskal Indravathi Indravathi Dantewada Indravathi

19-13-36 19-16-37 40317 40317 19-00-30 18-42

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

Kaleswaram Perur Eturunagaram Dummagudem Bhadrachalam Sangam Saradaput Sukma Konta Kunavaram Koida Polavaram Rajahmundry Dowlaiswaram

Godavari Godavari Godavari Godavari Godavari Kinnersani Sabari Sabari Sabari Godavari Godavari Godavari Godavari Godavari

18-48-33 18-33 18-21 17-50 17-39-57 17-36 18-36 18-24 17-48 17-36 17-29-15 17-15 16-57-59 16-58

79-54-48 80-22 80-26 80-54 80-53-02 80.49 82-08 81-42 81-23 81-18 81-23-15 81-40 81-46-59 81-47