The Pykara is a river from

Ooty Ooty (; officially Udagamandalam (), Anglicisation, anglicized: Ootacamund , abbreviated as Udagai, ) is a town and municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north ...

in the Indian State of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

with a village by the same name nearby. The Pykara River is considered very sacred by the Todas. It rises at

Mukurthi Mukurthi Peak is one of the highest peaks in the Western Ghats, situated on the border of Udagamandalam taluk, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, Nilambur taluk, Malappuram, and Kerala in India. It reaches an altitude of 2,554 m (8,379ft), and is the fifth ...

peak, flows northwards, and then turns to the west after reaching the edge of the plateau. The river flows through Mukurthi, Pykara and Glenmorgan dams, and forms part of an important

hydro-electric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also ...

project. It is a tributary of the

Moyar river The Moyar River (also Mayar) is one of the tributaries of the Bhavani, which itself is a tributary of the Kaveri in Tamil Nadu, South India. The Moyar river originates from a small town called Mayar off the Masinagudi–Ooty road. This is a nat ...

, which in turn is a tributary of the Bhavani river, which itself is a tributary of the

Kaveri river The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari and Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin is estimated to be and encompasses the states o ...

. The river flows over a series of waterfalls, the last two of and being known as Pykara Falls. The falls are approximately from the bridge on the main road. There is a forest rest house at Pykara. A boat house on the Pykara reservoir is an added attraction for tourists. Pykara has well-protected, fenced sholas, Toda settlements, large grassy meadows and good wildlife habitat. The Pykara Dam, falls and reservoir attract many tourists.

Climate

Pykara's climate is classified as

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(Cwb) under

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

. Pykara, due to its location in the Nilgiris, gets rain from both the

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

. The wet season runs from April to December and the dry season from January to March.

Dam and power station

The dam is near the main Ooty– Gudalur road and includes a

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

. One of the oldest power plants in South India, the Pykara station still functions, generating about 60 megawatts. The first unit of 6.65 MW was commissioned in October 1932. Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar, Diwan of

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

, worked with the British regime in 1920s and 1930s in the setting up of the Pykara project. A team of engineers led by H.G. Howard, a chief engineer in the then electricity department, was responsible for carrying out the project. The

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

industrial region is highly dependent on the Pykara

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

plant. The Pykara Station, declared as a heritage plant in September 1997, triggered the establishment of more hydro-electric power stations in the state. Today, the Nilgiris district alone boasts hydro-electric stations with an aggregate installed capacity of 837 MW. Five decades after establishment of the old plant, the Electricity Board (EB) authorities came up with a plan for the Pykara Ultimate Stage Hydro Electric Plant (PUSHEP), containing three units of 50 MW each. The construction of an underground powerhouse, 17 tunnels and the

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a measurement related to liquid pressure (normalized by specific weight) and the liquid elevation above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22, eq.3.2a. It is usually meas ...

of are the special features of the new plant. According to the EB, the hydraulic head is the highest in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The access to the powerhouse is a tunnel long.

Boat house

A boat house on the Pykara Reservoir is an added attraction for tourists. The boat house with restaurant is maintained by Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. It consists of several boats and has motor boats which are allowed for 20 minutes and speed boats which are allowed for 10 minutes.

Image gallery

File:Pykara Lake Nilgiris.jpg, Pykara Boathouse File:Pykara.jpg, Pykara, Town File:T.R.Bazar, Pykara.jpg, T.R.Bazar, Pykara File:T.R (2).jpg, T.R.Bazar, Pykara File:ஊட்டியின் அழகு.JPG, Pykara waterfalls File:View of Pykara lake from a boat.jpg, View of Pykara lake from a boat

References

External sources

{{coord, 11.4547, N, 76.5972, E, source:wikidata, display=title Rivers of Tamil Nadu Geography of Ooty Waterfalls of Tamil Nadu Tourist attractions in Nilgiris district Tourist attractions in Ooty