Penner
Penner is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. Somasila Dam stands on this watercourse and is written up below. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Dams Recorded
- 1
- Coordinates
- 14.47°, 78.93°
About Penner
Penna (originally known as Penneru, also known as Pinakini, Penneru, Penner, Pennar, Pennai) is a river of southern India. After originating from Nandi hills, it flows as two different streams, one in North and South directions. The Penna rises in the Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur District of Karnataka state, and runs north and east through the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to empty into bay of bengal in Andhra Pradesh. It is 597 kilometres (371 mi) long, with a drainage basin covering 55,213 km2: 6,937 km2 in Karnataka and 48,276 km2 in Andhra Pradesh. Along with this main stream is another stream south towards Tamil Nadu with the name Then Pennai or south Pennar which further moves towards the east to empty into the Bay of Bengal. The Penna river basin lies in the rain shadow region of Eastern Ghats and receives 500 mm average rainfall annually.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Penna River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Penner in Depth
Geography
The Penna river has several sources and mouths. The primary stream starts in Nandi Hills in of Karnataka, running for 597 km to the north and east through several mountains and plains, draining into the Bay of Bengal in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The river is seasonal, its main source of the water being from rains. Therefore, it appears like minor stream during periods of drought. The major tributaries of the Penna are the Jayamangali, Kunderu and Sagileru from the north, and Chitravathi, Papagni and Cheyyeru from the south.
The Penna river rises at 13.25°N 77.41°E / 13.25; 77.41 at 11 km southwest of Chikkaballapur in Chennakesava Range of Nandi Hills in Karnataka. It begins flowing to the northwest at its source, near the town of Maralur.
Climate
The Penna basin has a dry tropical monsoon climate. The upper basin of the Penna is semi-arid, with summer temperatures of 25–45 °C and winter temperatures of 18–35 °C. Most of the rainfall is provided by the moisture-bearing southwest monsoon, which provides rain to most of India between June and September. The Penna basin lies in the rain shadow of the high Western Ghats ranges, which prevents much moisture from reaching the region. Post-monsoon cyclonic storms in the coastal region produce additional rain during September and October. The winter northeast monsoon, which provides rain between December and March, provides little rain to the upper basin and slightly more to the lower basin.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Penna River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Penner: Key Facts
| Length | 597 km |
|---|---|
| Drainage basin | 55,213 km² |
| Source | Nandi Hills |
| Mouth | Bay of Bengal |
| Tributaries | Kundu River, Papagni River |
Facts from Wikidata Q1877489 (CC0).
Somasila Dam
Somasila Dam
Earth-fill Gravity dam · Andhra Pradesh, India
Somasila Dam is an earth-fill gravity dam on the Pennar in Andhra Pradesh, India, standing 39 m (128 ft) high and completed in 1989. The structure impounds Somasila Reservoir.
The "Somasila Dam" is a dam constructed across the Penna River near Somasila, Ananthasagaram mandal, Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The reservoir impounded by the dam has a surface area of 212.28 km2 (52,456 acres) with live storage capacity of 1.994 km3 (1,616,562 acre⋅ft) or 75 tmcft.
The reservoir can get water by gravity from the Srisailam reservoir located in Krishna basin. It is the largest storage reservoir in Penna River basin and can store all the inflows from its catchment area in an average year. This reservoir can also feed by gravity nearby 72 tmcft gross storage capacity Kandaleru reservoir. Under Indian Rivers Inter-link projects, it is planned to connect the reservoir with the Nagarjunasagar reservoir to augment its water inflows.
One of the main canals is the Kavali Canal. Kavali canal is feeding to the 52 tanks under system of tanks. It will be covered dagadarthi mandal, sangham mandal, jaladanki mandal and kavali mandal. The total length of the canal is 67.619 km. Kavali Canal is the main source of drinking to Kavali municipality of nearly 1.2 lakh population.
It is nearly 79 kilometers distance from the District Headquarters.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Somasila Dam (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Dam type
- Earth-fill Gravity
- Structural height
- 39 m (128 ft)
- Impounded river
- Pennar
- Reservoir
- Somasila Reservoir
- Location
- Andhra Pradesh, India
- Year completed
- 1989
- Height rank
- #102 of 115 indexed
- Coordinates
- 14.5028°, 79.3083°
Notable: Largest reservoir on the Pennar River, storing 78 TMC of water for Rayalaseema irrigation.
Among the 115 dams indexed in YearMaps, Somasila Dam ranks #102 by structural height, behind Jinping-I Dam (305 m).
Nearest cities: Nellore (74 km), Proddatur (84 km), Tirupati (96 km).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Penner: Quick Answers
- Where is Penner?
- Penner is located in India, at 14.4687° N, 78.9289° E.
- Are there dams on the Penner?
- Yes. YearMaps records one dam on the Penner: Somasila Dam.
- How tall is Somasila Dam?
- Somasila Dam is 39 metres (128 ft) high and was completed in 1989.