The Daman Ganga also called Dawan River is a river in western India. The river's headwaters are on the western slope of the Western Ghats range, and it flows west into the Arabian Sea. The river flows through Maharashtra and Gujarat states, as well as the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. The industrial towns of Vapi, Dadra and Silvassa lie on the north bank of the river, and the town of Daman occupies both banks of the river's estuary.
The major development project on the river is the Daman Ganga Multipurpose project completed which benefits the state of Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. In 2015, a major river interlinking project involving inter-basin transfer of surplus water from the Daman Ganga called the "Daman Ganga-Pinjal River Linking Project" has been approved for implementation.
The two historical forts on either side of the river at Daman, are the Moti Daman ('Moti' means "big") on the southern bank and the Nani Daman ('Nani' means "small"), on the northern bank.
Geography
The Daman Ganga, also known as Dawan River, rises in the Sahyadri hills close to Ambegaon village in Dindori taluka of Nasik district of Maharashtra State. It raise at an elevation of 950m. The major tributaries of Daman and Vag run a course of and respectively before joining at Matunji to become the Daman Ganga River. Major part of the river lies in Maharashtra. Its total length from source to the Arabian Sea is . Some of major tributaries which originate and flow through the mountainous region of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu are Dawan, Shrimant, Val, Rayate, Lendi, Wagh, Sakartond, Roshni, Dudhni, and Piperiya. As the river joins the sea at Daman, it is named Daman Ganga. At the estuary there is heavy sedimentation and hence the depth of water is shallow. Daman is located on both banks of the river (Portuguese name: Rio Sandalcalo). At the mouth of the river the bar is level bed made of hard sand, except for the North of the North point where the river enters the sea.
The river basin (part of the basin of West flowing rivers from Tapi to Tadri), which lies entirely on the western ghats, has a total catchment area of . Catchment area distribution is: In the Nashik district of Maharashtra (60.74%); in the Valsad district in Gujarat (21.36%); and in the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu it is (17.90%). The mean annual run off from the catchment is 3,771 MCM (million cubic metres). The upstream area of the river is hilly and covered with forest . Rain fall occurs during the monsoon months from June to September with an annual average rainfall incidence of approximately (maximum recorded is reported to be .}. The soil conditions in the basin are categorized as "reddish brown soil, coarse shallow soil, deep black soil and Coastal alluvial soil". Silvassa, Vapi and Daman are the major towns on the banks of the river.
The places of tourist interest on the Daman Ganga River in Dadra and Nagar Haveli are Van Ganga and Vandhara Garden. There are also two historical forts on either side of the river at Daman, which face each other, known as Moti Daman on the southern bank, the larger of the two and the Nani Daman, smaller in size, on the northern bank.