Almatti Dam

Almatti Dam is a 60 m composite dam on the Krishna river at Bagalkot, Karnataka — the central subject of one of India's longest-running interstate water disputes. Sanctioned in 1964 by the Karnataka government as part of the Krishna river utilisation programme, the dam's construction was repeatedly contested by Andhra Pradesh (downstream) over Karnataka's right to impound a particular volume of Krishna water.

The dam was finally completed in 2005 — 41 years after sanction. The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT-1, 1969) and KWDT-2 (2004 final award) progressively allocated water shares between Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana. The dam's height was politically contested — Andhra Pradesh fought to limit it to 524 m above MSL to constrain Karnataka's storage, while Karnataka pushed for 528 m to maximize storage. The KWDT-2 final award allowed 524.256 m, marginally below Karnataka's preference.

The dam impounds 4.34 cubic km of water and is the keystone of the Krishna Bhagya Jal Nigam (KBJN) command area — Karnataka's Upper Krishna Project (UKP) — irrigating 3.83 lakh hectares across Bagalkot, Vijayapur, and Yadgir districts. The associated Almatti Hydroelectric Project has 290 MW installed capacity.

The Almatti dispute is a case study in Indian interstate water disputes — informing later disputes over Mahadayi (Goa-Karnataka), Mullaperiyar (Kerala-Tamil Nadu), and Ravi-Beas (Punjab-Rajasthan).