The Alqueva dam is less than a meter away from reaching its maximum level, with 3,904.42 cubic hectometers of water stored, with 245.58 cubic hectometers remaining to reach full capacity, the management company said this Monday.
According to the data available on the Alqueva Development and Infrastructure Company (EDIA) website, relating to the monitoring carried out on that day, the reservoir is at elevation 151.28.
Therefore, there are 72 centimeters left for the water stored in this Alentejo reservoir to reach the dam’s maximum level, which is 152.
Contacted by the Lusa agency, a company source explained that, today, Alqueva has “3,904.42 cubic hectometers [hm3] stored”, meaning that, to reach the total capacity of 4,150 hm3, 245.58 hm3 remain.
“11 years ago, precisely on this day, April 1, 2013, we were flushing because the Alqueva filled to level 152”, recalled the same source, adding that, in the following year, the reservoir “was also practically full, but Then there was no need to carry out unloading.”
Given the current situation, when asked whether discharges are planned, the same source simply stated that EDIA is “monitoring the situation”.
“We are monitoring the inflows and controlling the volume of the reservoir by boosting the hydroelectric plant”, he added.
In 2013, after reaching the level of 151.98 meters, that is, very close to 152 meters, the Alqueva dam began, at 23:00 on March 31, a discharge operation to control the volume of water stored, announced the management company, the next dayLusa reported at the time.
On that occasion, controlled discharges were carried out through two spillways, one deep and one surface, which also involved discharges in the Pedrógão dam, downstream of Alqueva, and the consequent increase in the flow of the Guadiana river, as can be seen- if in the Lusa news.
The Alqueva dam reservoir reached its maximum height of 152 meters for the first time on January 12, 2010, when it became the largest artificial lake in Europe and carried out controlled releases.
In this ‘debut’ operation, it released around 3,500 million cubic meters of water, until March of this year.
Alqueva is the largest artificial lake in Europe and has a floodable area of 250 square kilometers and around 1,100 kilometers of banks.
The floodgates were closed on February 8, 2002, and the process of filling the reservoir began.
