Kandhamal literally "the land of Kondhs" is a district with a substantial tribal population. It was formed by bifurcating the former Boudh-Phulbani or Kandhamal District on 1st January, 1994. Kandhamal district is centrally located district in the state of Odisha. It lies between 830 30' to 840 35' longitude and between 190 34' to 200 34' latitude. It is bounded by Boudh district in North, Gajpati district in south, Nayagarh district in the east and Kalahandi district in the west. The district accounts for 5.15 % of the state’s territory and shares 1.75 % of the state’s population. Kandhamal district is represented by a rugged hilly and undulating terrain with high hillocks, forests, plateaus, erosional plains and valleys. The topographical feature of the high land and forests facilitates quick surface runoff whereas the low lying areas under cultivation helps to observe the rain water as far as possible to increase the recharge potential. Nearly 97% of the area of Kandhamal District are composed of granite gneiss, charnockites and khondalites. Ground water occurs within fracture zones at different depth and also within the weathered zone overlying the bed rock.