Krishna Basin extends over an area of 258,948 km2 which is nearly 8% of total geographical area of the country. The basin lies in the states of Karnataka (113,271 km2), Andhra Pradesh (76,252 km2) and Maharashtra (69,425 km2).

Krishna river rises in the Western Ghats at an elevation of about 1337 m just north of Mahabaleshwar, about 64 km from the Arabian Sea and flows for about 1400 km and outfalls into the Bay of Bengal. The principal tributaries joining Krishna are the Ghataprabha, the Malaprabha, the Bhima, the Tungabhadra and the Musi.

Most part of this basin comprises rolling and undulating country except the western border which is formed by an unbroken line of ranges of the Western Ghats. The important soil types found in the basin are black soils, red soils, laterite and lateritic soils, alluvium, mixed soils, red and black soils and saline and alkaline soils.

An average annual surface water potential of 78.1 km3 has been assessed in this basin. Out of this, 58.0 km3 is utilisable water. Culturable area in the basin is about 20.3 Million ha, which is 10.4% of the total culturable area of the country.

Present use of surface water in the basin is 50.0 km3. Live storage capacity in the basin has increased significantly since independence. From just about 3.2 km3 in the pre-plan period, the total live storage capacity of the completed projects has increased to 34.5 km3. In addition, a substantial storage quantity of over 4.9 km3 would be created on completion of projects under construction. An additional storage to the tune of over 0.1 km3 would become available on execution of projects under consideration. The hydropower potential of the basin has been assessed as 2997 MW at 60% load factor.

Source: MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES
GOVERNMENT  OF  INDIA