A plan to build a dam on Godavari river in the drought-prone Marathwada region was first conceived during rule of state of Hyderabad.

The plan was to build a dam in Beed district near Jayakwadi village with storage capacity of 2,147 MCM (million cubic meters).

However, after formation of new state of Maharashtra and comparative analysis on alternative places, it was decided to build a dam 100 km upstream at Paithan.

Building dam at higher level made it possible to have longer canals and thus providing irrigation facility to a larger region.

The project proposal for this was completed by 1964, under the supervision of Mr. A A A Siddiqui, the incharge Civil Engineer, member of public commission, Maharashtra.

Its height is about 41.30 metres (135.5 ft) and length of about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) with a total storage capacity of 2,909 million cubic meters.

Through its canal system, the dam irrigates cultivable area of 237,452 hectares in the districts of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Ahmednagar and Parbhani.

The gross irrigated area by 96,000 hectares under right bank canal was further enlarged by constructing Majalgaon Dam which acts as a balancing reservoir in addition to harness the Sindphana tributary of the Godavari river.

The water used for power generation is pumped back to the main reservoir from the tail pond using reversible hydro turbine.

Around 0.05 MCM water is supplied daily from dam to various industries located in Chhatrpati Sambhajinagar and Jalna MIDC areas.

The Nath Sagar reservoir creates 30 island of various sizes in the shallow waters, with trees for roosting, this provides an ideal shelter for migratory birds.

Notable amongst migratory birds are cranes, flamingos, pintails, wigeons, shovellers, brahminy ducks, pochards, teals, godwits, and glossy ibises.

[11] Many species are reported in numbers larger than 1% of their bio-geographic population thresholds in Jayakwadi bird sanctuary (Wetlands International Norms – 2002).