The Dowleswaram Barrage was an irrigation structure originally built in 1852 by Sir Arthur Cotton on the lower stretch of the Godavari River before it empties into the Bay of Bengal.

[1] The Godavari River empties its water into the Bay of Bengal after flowing nearly fifty miles from the Dhavaleshwaram Barrage.

The original Dowleswaram Barrage (also spelled Dowlaisweram or Dowlaiswaram) was built by a British irrigation engineer, Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton and completed in 1850.

[citation needed] Cotton's many projects averted famines and stimulated the economy of southern India.

But when Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton had built the barrage those unused lands were brought into cultivation and the water was stored and used.