Mahanadi Basin extends over an area of 141,589 km2 which is nearly 4.3% of total geographical area of the country. The basin lies in the states of Madhya Pradesh (75,136 km2), Orissa (65,580 km2), Bihar (635 km2) and Maharashtra (238 km2).

Mahanadi river rises from Raipur district of Madhya Pradesh and flows for about 851 km before its outfall into the Bay of Bengal. Its main tributaries are the Seonth, the Jonk, the Hasdeo, the Mand, the Ib, the Ong and the Tel.

Physiographically, the basin can be divided into four regions, namely, the Northern Plateau, the Eastern Ghats, the Coastal Plain and the Erosional Plains of Central Table Land. The first two are hilly regions. The coastal plain is the central interior region of the basin, traversed by the river and its tributaries. The main soil types found in the basin are red and yellow soils, mixed red and black soils, laterite soils and deltaic soils.

An average annual surface water potential of 66.9 km3 has been assessed in this basin. Out of this, 50.0 km3 is utilisable water. Culturable area in the basin is about 8.0 Million ha, which is 40% of the total culturable area of the country.

Present use of surface water in the basin is 17.0 km3. Live storage capacity in the basin has increased significantly since independence. From just about 0.8 km3 in the pre-plan period, the total live storage capacity of the completed projects has increased to 8.5 km3. In addition, a substantial storage quantity of over 5.4 km3 would be created on completion of projects under construction. Additional storage to the tune of over 11.0 km3 would become available on execution of projects under consideration. The hydropower potential of the basin has been assessed as 627 MW at 60% load factor.

Source: MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES
GOVERNMENT  OF  INDIA