Sharavathi River

Sharavathi River, river in western Karnataka state, southern India. Rising in the Western Ghats, it flows for 60 miles (100 km) in a northwesterly direction to the Arabian Sea at Honavar. About 18 miles (29 km) upriver from its mouth, the Sharavathi attains a breadth of 230 feet (70 meters) before it makes a sudden 830-foot (250-meter) drop, splitting into four scenic cataracts known as Jog Falls. The Mahatma Gandhi Hydroelectric Power Station and the Sharavathi Valley Project, a short distance downstream (east) of the cataract, generate much of the electricity for Karnataka state.