Gosthani River

Gosthani River is neither a small one nor a big river that flows in eastern direction in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Indian Peninsula. It originates from the Ananthagiri hills in Eastern Ghats and flows for around 120 km and merges with Bay of Bengal at Bheemunipatnam. The meeting point is in the form of an estuary. The coastline is marked by a tapered beach and is bounded by the hills of Eastern Ghats which comprise of Khondalites, granite gneisses and Charnockites. Geo-morphologically these ranges of hills are upright to the coast which has resulted in the rocky beaches at various places.

The depth of the river is not constant and varies from one place to another. While in the bay of the river, it is 2 meters at the lowest tide, it is 1 to 1.5 meters in the backwaters and 1.5 to 2 meters in the centre of the river.

Course

Raising in the Eastern Ghats the Gosthani river flows via the Borra Caves that lies very close to its source. Before merging with the Bay of Bengal, it runs for 120km. The river basin drains Vishakhapatnam and vizianagaram, the two coastal districts. It demonstrates a dendritic and sub-dentritic model of drainage. The river basin of Gosthani is a minor one occupying a drainage area which is less than 2000 square kilometers. Majority of the river basin is covered by the gneissic rocks, which belongs to khondalite group. Approximately more than 3% of the whole area of Vishakhapatnam comes under the river basin of Gosthani.

Gosthani River is fed by rain and receives an approximate rainfall of 110 cm. Much of this rain comes from the south-west monsoon. There are numerous hills covered with red sand near the town of Bheemunipatnam, where Gosthani River amalgamates with the Bay of Bengal. These are evocative of the Chambal ravines. These hills are estimated to have been created six million years ago because of the modifications in the course of the river subsequent to a tectonic happening.

The Tatipudi Reservoir Project was constructed across the river Gosthani between 1963 and1968, the main purpose of which is to supply water for the irrigational facilities covering a huge area of 15,378 acres in the district of Vizianagaram. This was also the main source of the drinking water for the people of Visakhapatnam. The storage capacity of this reservoir is around 3 TMC and it consumes 3.325 TMC of water.

During the ancient past, Gosthani River was flowing through the area filled with limestone. These limestones dissolved gradually because of the extreme pressure of the river on the deposits of minerals, and thus the caves were created. During this process, numerous other exciting structures were also developed such as a temple, a church, a mosque and a mushroom.

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