Amaravathi Dam and Reservoir Irrigation System, Tiruppur

The Amaravathi reservoir in Tiruppur district, created by the Amaravathi dam built across the Amaravathi river in 1956, provides irrigation water to 56,000 acres of farmland in Tiruppur, Karur, and Erode districts. The dam is at the point where the Amaravathi river exits the Anamalai hills, harnessing monsoon runoff from the forest-covered catchment. Traditional communities downstream developed an intricate system of secondary channels (anicuts and oodais) distributing water among farms on a rotation basis managed by locally elected committees. The Parambikulam-Aliyar Project, a subsequent inter-state water sharing agreement between Tamil Nadu and Kerala, modified the Amaravathi's flow by diverting Kerala's river surpluses to Tamil Nadu's dry plains.