Tungabhadra Upper Canal and Irrigation Heritage of Anantapur

The Tungabhadra Upper Level Canal originating from the Tungabhadra Dam at Hospet irrigates a vast area of Anantapur district — transforming part of India's driest district into productive paddy and groundnut farmland. The canal's extension into Anantapur was a major post-independence development investment, bringing perennial irrigation to a district that had suffered repeated famines under dryland agriculture conditions. The canal system requires complex management across the 400+ km distribution network, with water user associations managing allocation at the distributary level. The contrast between the irrigated canal command area and the surrounding dryland groundnut landscape within the same district illustrates the dramatic transformation that irrigation brings to agricultural productivity and livelihood security.