Qualla: Tehri Dam

Tehri Dam: Introduction

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit N-O-M-A-D, CC BY 2.0. Somewhere beneath 52 square kilometers of turquoise reservoir water lies Old Tehri, a hill town that existed for centuries at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Bhilangna rivers in the Garhwal Himalayas. The town's temples, bazaars, and homes vanished when the reservoir filled in 2005, replaced by a lake so vast it transformed the mountain landscape visible from the air. Rising 260.5 meters above its foundation, the Tehri Dam is the tallest in India and among the tallest on Earth - a wall of rock and earth holding back the headwaters of what Hindus consider the holiest river in the world.

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Image: N-O-M-A-D | CC BY 2.0

Tehri Dam: Decades in the Making

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit © Lennon Rodgers, 2006, CC BY-SA 3.0. The idea for harnessing the Bhagirathi first took shape in 1961, when preliminary investigations were completed under Jawaharlal Nehru's government. The design was finalized in 1972, envisioning a 600 MW power plant. Construction began in 1978, but the project immediately became ...

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Image: © Lennon Rodgers, 2006 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tehri Dam: An Engineering Colossus

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Yogendra singh negi, CC BY-SA 4.0. The numbers are staggering. The dam's crest stretches 575 meters across the valley, 20 meters wide at the top and flaring to an enormous 1,128 meters at the base. Its reservoir holds 3.54 cubic kilometers of water. Four generators produce 1,000 MW of hydroelectricity, and an addi...

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Image: Yogendra singh negi | CC BY-SA 4.0

Tehri Dam: Sacred Waters, Bitter Protest

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Guptaele, CC BY-SA 4.0. For millions of Hindus, the Bhagirathi is not merely a river. It is one of the source tributaries of the Ganges, believed to have descended from heaven through Lord Shiva's matted hair. When the reservoir began filling in 2005, the river's flow below the dam plummeted from roughl...

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Image: Guptaele | CC BY-SA 4.0

Tehri Dam: The Town That Disappeared

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Arvind Iyer from Mumbai, India, CC BY-SA 2.0. Old Tehri was not a village. It was the district headquarters, a town with courts, schools, and a centuries-old identity rooted in the Garhwal kingdom. Its residents were relocated to New Tehri, a planned settlement on a ridge above the reservoir. The transition was wrenching - f...

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Image: Arvind Iyer from Mumbai, India | CC BY-SA 2.0

Tehri Dam: Shaking Ground

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Guptaele, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Tehri Dam sits in one of the most seismically active zones on Earth. The Himalayas are young mountains, still rising as the Indian tectonic plate grinds northward beneath the Eurasian plate. The region has experienced devastating earthquakes, and geologists have long debated ...

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Image: Guptaele | CC BY-SA 4.0