According to the President of ANAS, Claudio Santos, This is a natural phenomenon that occurs in many places whenever the hydrogeological conditions allow the formation of underground water currents, which can flow to the surface, giving rise to springs. Depending on natural factors, it always takes some time for the water to percolate after the rains and for the springs to resurface or strengthen. In this specific case, it took about 3 months, after the rains.
The National Water and Sanitation Agency - ANAS, today called the press to provide clarification on the appearance of water in the flamengos dam reservoir and the management of the dams.
According to the President of ANAS, Claudio Santos, This is a natural phenomenon that occurs in many places whenever the hydrogeological conditions allow the formation of underground water currents, which can flow to the surface, giving rise to springs. Depending on natural factors, it always takes some time for the water to percolate after the rains and for the springs to resurface or strengthen. In this specific case, it took about 3 months, after the rains.
“People's strangeness or admiration for this phenomenon to occur in the dry period is quite understandable. And the Flamengos dam is located downstream from the source. Built to retain large amounts of water from floods during the rainy season, which, unfortunately, has not happened since its construction due to droughts, the dam now, in the dry season, retains water from the resurfaced spring. Thus, an accumulation of water was formed which, according to the measurement made by ANAS, reached 4m in height”, he said.
The President of ANAS also clarified that no dam is unmanaged and undervalued, on the contrary, partial desilting of Poilão was carried out and important water supply works were carried out in Faveta, Figueira Gorda and Saquinho, rehabilitation of damage in Canto Cagarra with investments that exceed the 250 thousand escudos. Also noteworthy is the execution of the entire construction of the Principal Dam and the downstream water supply system for the agricultural plots.
“The National Water and Sanitation Agency is responsible for ensuring, directly or through other entities, the management of hydraulic infrastructure built by the State. This obviously includes the dams, whose management has been ensured with the involvement of the MAA delegations, with a view to gradually transferring this management to the Água de Rega company. This is the case of Principal and Faveta”.
Apart from the situation described in Flamengos, which has 4 meters of water column now coming from the source, the state of functionality and water reserve in the remaining dams is as follows: two (2) floods (Principal and Canto de Cagarra), two (2) partially with water (Saquinho 20% and Faveta 45%) and the rest dry (Poilão and Figueira Gorda due to lack of rain and Salineiro and Banca Furada due to technical failures in their construction.
Source: Government of the Republic of Cape Verde