Nadrai Aqueduct
The Nadrai Aqueduct in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, is known locally as Jaal Ka Pul (Fish Net Bridge).
The Nadrai Aqueduct Bridge opened at the end of 1889, the largest structure of its kind in existence. It was built to carry the water of the Lower Ganges Canal over the Kali Nadi in what is now Mainpuri District of Uttar Pradesh.[2]
1891 'This big work in connection with the irrigation
canals of the North-West Provinces of India was
opened by Sir Auckland Colvin, the present Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces
of India at the end of the year 1889, and, as it is
one of the largest works of its kind in the world, a
short account of it may prove interesting to our
readers.
The Lower Ganges Canal, whose waters this
aqueduct carries over the Kali Naddi, was designed
as an extension of the irrigation scheme of the
Upper Ganges Canal, conceived and constructed by
Sir Proby Cantley about the time of the mutiny and was opened in the year 1876. In the year
1888-89, the Lower Ganges Canal had 564 miles of
main line, and 2050 miles of minor distributaries,
and irrigated 519,022 acres of crops of an estimated
value of 1,410,041 rupees, equal to 43.4 per cent,
of the capital expended to that date ; from this it
will be seen how important a line of irrigation this
canal constitutes, and how urgent the reconstruction of the aqueduct was. Fortunately, while the
construction of the new aqueduct was going on,
from 1885 to 1889, the rainfall was exceptionally
favourable, and the Upper Ganges Canal was able
thereby to supply that portion of the Lower Ganges
Canal cut off by the destruction of the aqueduct,
with the exception of one branch. The new aqueduct replaces one of much smaller size, viz., five
spans of 35 ft., which was damaged by a high flood
in October, 1884, and completely destroyed by
another high flood in July, 1885.
The Kali Naddi, for the greater part of the
year, is a very insignificant stream some 50 ft.
in width Only, but on the date mentioned it was
swollen into a river a mile wide and in places 25 ft.
deep. .....
The proportion of the foundation to the superstructure of the Nadrai Aqueduct can be gathered
from the fact that three-fourths of the expenditure
of money and time were consumed by what is now
hidden below the ground.
The foundations consist of 268 circular brick
cylinders or wells, as they are always called in
India, all sunk 55 ft. below the river bed. There
are fifteen bays of 60 ft. divided into three
groups of five each by abutment piers. The abutment piers consist of a double row of 12-ft. wells
spaced 2 ft. apart and the ordinary piers of a single
row of 20-ft. wells similarly spaced.
The wells are all sunk through a stratum of stiff
yellow clay, averaging 15 ft. thick, into a substratum
of pure sand. The wells are all hearted with
hydraulic lime concrete filled in by skips, and in
each pier the wells, by corbelling out the brickwork, are joined together for the superstructure of
the pier.
Previously to the building of the superstructure
of the piers several independent wells had been test
loaded with a weight far in excess of what they
would finally have to bear, and the settlement was
so small that the necessity of test loading each of
the 268 wells was obviated, with the result of a
vast saving of time and expense.
The total quantity of well sinking was 15,019
lineal feet, or nearly three miles, and was executed by hand and steam dredging. It was commenced
in May, 1886, and completed in May, 1888. The
arching was commenced in November, 1888, and
finished in April, 1889. ....
... The engineer by whom the work
was carried out, was Mr. W. Good, M.I.C.E. [3]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Engineering 1891/10/16
- ↑ [1] University of Minnesota: UMedia Libraries website: Ames Library of South Asia General Collection: Nadrai Aqueduct
- ↑ Engineering 1891/10/16