The Gargalheiras dam, in the city of Acari, in the Seridó Region of Rio Grande do Norte, exceeded the 89% full capacity, getting close to bleeding after 13 years – the last time this happened was in May 2011.
“Bleeding” is the term used for when the reservoir overflows, exceeding 100% of capacity.
The update of the reservoir level was carried out by the RN Water Management Institute (Igarn) and passed on to InterTV Cabugi at 8:30 am this Tuesday (2).
Given the rapid increase in volume in recent days, residents of the city and the Seridó region live in expectation that the dam will overflow this Tuesday. In order not to miss this moment, some of them began to carry out a kind of “vigil”, spending part of the morning there.
The Gargalheiras Dam is one of the main reservoirs in the state, with a capacity for more than 44 million cubic meters of water. It became completely dry (with 0% water level) at times between 2017, 2018 and 2019.
To get an idea of the increase in volume in recent days, in the most recent weekly report released by Igarn, last Thursday (28), the Gargalheira Dam had 36% water accumulation – and this was already the highest volume recorded since 2012.
In addition to the rain that fell in the state in recent days, the increase in the level of Gargalheiras was also driven by bleeding from the Dourado Reservoir, in Currais Novos, which took part of the water to the Acari dam.
Residents of Acari and visitors to the city have been expecting for a few days that the dam could bleed.
Public servant Lucas Max left Caicó, a nearby city in Seridó, to monitor the possible bleeding of Gargalheiras.
“A very great feeling of happiness. I’m from Caicó, but I see the happiness of the people from Acari, from the backlands. I saw here that people left at 2 am waiting for him to bleed”, he said.
Residents of Seridó live in anticipation of the Gargalheiras bloodletting
The feeling is even more touching for those who have lived through all the years of drought in the city of Acari and have witnessed this increase in volume in recent days.
Retired José Carlos Medeiros reported that the construction of the Gargalheiras Dam, more than 60 years ago, helped the city of Acari a lot. Given the time he has been following the reservoir, he believes that the area could bleed this Tuesday if it rains in the city.
“I believe that if it rains today, from midnight to tomorrow [quarta], He’s bleeding. If it doesn’t rain, he could even come close to bleeding,” she said.
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