Tipaimukh Dam is a proposed embankment dam

Embankment dam

An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

 on the river Barak

Surma-Meghna River System

The Surma-Meghna River System is a river complex in South Asia, one of the three that form the Ganges Delta, the largest on earth. It rises in the Manipur Hills of northeast India as the Barak River and flows west becoming the Surma River and then flows south as the Meghna River, a total of...

 in Manipur

Manipur

Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...

 state India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The purpose of the dam is flood control and hydroelectric power generation. The project has led to controversy between India and Bangladesh over water rights as well as controversy with Manipuri people to be relocated by the reservoir.

Technical Features

The dam will be 390m long and 162.8m high, across the Barak River

Barak River

The Barak River is one of the major rivers of southern Assam and is a part of the Surma-Meghna River System. It is the biggest and the most important of all the rivers in the Manipur hill territory, from where it originates....

. The dam's crest elevation will be at an altitude of about 180 m. above mean sea level with a maximum reservoir level of 178 m. The dam was originally designed to contain flood waters in the lower Barak valley

Barak Valley

Barak Valley is situated in the southern part of the Indian state of Assam.It's another name is East Bengal or Northeast Bengal The main city of the valley is Silchar. The place is named after the Barak river. Barak valley mainly consists of three districts namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi...

 but hydro power generation was later incorporated into the project. The project will have an installation capacity of 1500 MW, supplied by six 250 MW Francis turbine

Francis turbine

The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts....

-generators.

Controversies

Bangladeshi experts have said the massive dam will disrupt the seasonal rhythm of the river and have an adverse effect on downstream agriculture and fisheries. The government of Bangladesh has decided to send an expert team to the Dam area to examine the features and likely impact of the dam on the flow of water into the Surma and the Kushiara.

Another is the environmental factor. The Tipaimukh area lies in an ecologically sensitive and topographically fragile region. It falls under one of the most seismically volatile regions on the planet. A major earthquake rocked Manipur-Myanmar border in the year August 6, 1988 at the epicenter of lat. 25.130 and long 95.150 and at a magnitude of 6.6 Richter Scale.

External links

• Tipaimukh Project at NHPC