How a river is formed?
Water from the rains starts flowing along the natural slope. This flowing water carries rocks and soil with it. A crevice is formed which continues to deepen due to constant erosion by water and a stream is formed. Flows from the surrounding landscape start draining into this stream, making it bigger and wider. Eventually we call this big stream, a river. That is how this river was also formed, which later came to be known as Mutha.
Did you realize this? Since Sahyadri is older than the Himalaya, the rivers originating in the Sahyadri might be older than the rivers originating in the Himalayas, right?
We accept antiquity of rivers Ganga and Yamuna, but hardly ever give a thought to our local rivers.
What is the journey of Mutha?
Let us look at the journey of Mutha river. Mutha originates in the Western Ghats near a village named Vegare. Have you been to Lavasa? We come across a dam, from where we take left to reach Lavasa. That dam is Temghar dam. Instead if we continue the kachha road to right, then we reach Vegare.
Mutha has two tributaries, Ambi and Moshi. There are 2 dams on Mutha, Temghar and Khadakwasla. There is dam at Panshet on Ambi and on Moshi at Varasgaon.
After confluence of Ambi and Moshi rivers, that joint flow merges into Mutha, just before Khadakwasla dam.
In the heart of Pune city, near College of Engineering, or Sangam Bridge, Mutha river drains into Mula. From then onwards, it flows on as Mula-Mutha river.
Near Ranjangao Saandas, in Shirur tehsil, Mula-Mutha drain into Bhima. Do you see the large blue area near Solapur? That is Ujani dam on Bhima river. It is a terminal dam i.e. the last dam on Bhima in Maharashtra.
NOTE: All the pollution, the garbge you see in Mutha river, gets accumulated in Ujani reservoir, through Mula-Mutha and then Bhima. Imagine the quality of water people around Ujani area get and consider their plight on account of Pune city.
Bhima then flows into state of Karnataka where it drains into Krishna.
Krishna, ultimately, drains into Bay of Bengal, in Vijaywada, Andha Pradesh.
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