Entirely located in the semi-arid region, Ceará took another step towards implementing the Water Belt, a water project aimed at increasing the capillarity of flows from the transposition of the São Francisco River. The State Attorney General’s Office (PGE) announced that it had signed 50 property expropriation agreements to speed up Lot 3 of the project, which runs from Barbalha to Crato, passing through Juazeiro do Norte, and Lot 4, between Crato and the municipality of Nova Olinda, at the height of the Cariús River.
The joint effort was held in Crato, last week, and had the objective of providing 45 services, but exceeded expectations, with 60 cases attended to and 50 agreements signed. According to PGE, as some properties were involved in the division of assets and had more than one owner, some negotiations were dismembered and the goals were expanded.
“The negotiations conducted by the Attorney General’s Office aim to centralize and optimize actions, ensuring a more agile and fair resolution of pending issues. PGE-CE achieved the objective of carrying out negotiations in a transparent manner, ensuring the interests of those involved and the progress of the Water Belt works”, informed the State Government.
Water Belt will provide water security to an area hit by aridity
The Ceará Water Belt was designed to connect 12 river basins to the Northern Axis of the São Francisco River Integration Project. The project is made up of 145.3 km of open-air canal segments, tunnels and siphons, with the function of bringing water derived from the Jati dam, in the Salgado River hydrographic region, to the sources of the Cariús River, in Nova Olinda . The work is important for water security in Cariri, second in population density in the state.
The project is carried out by the Government of Ceará with its own contributions and also transfers from the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development. According to state management, lots 1 and 2 are already completed and receiving water from the São Francisco. A fifth batch, consisting of 3.76 kilometers of canals and 5.82 kilometers of segmented tunnels in lots 2, 3 and 4, is also already operational. Lots 3 and 4 are yet to be completed, which gives the work 75% complete at the moment.
Ceará has 72 reservoirs bleeding, but it suffers in the Crateús region
The year has been positive for most of Ceará’s reservoirs. The state reached, now in April, 7.23 billion accumulated cubic meters, which led to the mark of 72 bleeding dams, the best record in 2009. Highlight is the Martinópole dam, in the northwest of Ceará, which did not have a bleeding event 15 years ago.
According to the Water Resources Management Company (Cogerh), another 12 dams have more than 90% of capacity, the result of water supplies in river basins that supply the regions of Acaraú, Coreaú, Litoral, Metropolitana, Serra da Ibiapaba, Salgado and Lower Jaguaribe. The total accumulated volume in the state is 54.8% of total capacity.
However, 22 reservoirs have less than 30% of the total volume, with a negative highlight for the Crateús hydrographic basin, with an even lower index, below 25%. “This demonstrates the persistent challenges posed by the region’s semi-arid climate, with rainfall irregularly distributed in time and space”, assesses Cogerh’s Operations director, Tércio Tavares.
Read more: Environmental sustainability: Ceará is leader in the Northeast and 12th in the national ranking
