The Tungabhadra dam, an inter-State project involving Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, was commissioned in the early 1950s, while the crest gates were installed in 1955. The project irrigates over 16.38 lakh acres of land – 9.26 lakh acres in Karnataka, 6.25 lakh acres in Andhra Pradesh and 87,000 acres in Telangana.

At the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 1,633 feet, the Tungabhadra Reservoir was originally designed to store around 133 tmcft of water. However, decades of heavy silt accumulation, estimated at nearly 33 tmcft at the rate of around 0.5 tmcft annually, have reduced its effective storage capacity to 105.788 tmcft. The spillway is designed to discharge up to 6.5 lakh cusecs.