Reservoir

The Ramsagar Reservoir is a man made water body. The origin and the year of completion of the reservoir is not known, however, the information from Irrigation Department, Datia showed that it was completed before independence i.e. 1947. The reservoir is located around 80 kms south of Gwalior and 28 kms north of Jhansi in District Datia at an altitude of 229 msl. It lies between 25o40.489 N latitude and 78o23.887 E longitude. The reservoir is surrounded by hills on the eastern and western sides, which drain their runoff in the reservoir through various nullahs prominent among these being the Pateria from eastern side, Badi nadi from southern side and Patparu from the western side. There is an earthen dam on the Northern side of reservoir. The length of the dam is 506 m and the top width is 3.75 m. The maximum height of the dam from lowest river bed level is 26.8 m. The Sindh river basin forms approximately 46 Sq. km of catchment area of the reservoir. The reservoirs command area constitutes an area of more than 1050 hectares. The water spread area fluctuates due to irregular rainfall and the extensive usage of the water. The water stored in the reservoir is being supplied for drinking to the people in the Datia city. In addition the locals use the water for irrigation and fisheries development.Various indices, their bases and trophic status of Ramsagar reservoir have been given in table 1. On the basis of the studies on the trophic status it is concluded that the Ramsagar reservoir is a mesotrophic water body with moderate quantity of nutrients. The water body can serve as a good habitat for aquatic organisms and can also be very well used for stocking of Indian major carps for their cultivation.