This Monday, 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, indicated the management company. According to the data available in the site from the Alqueva Development and Infrastructure Company (EDIA), regarding the monitoring carried out this Monday, 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”, so, to reach the total capacity of 4150 hm3, 245.58 hm3 remain.
“11 years ago, precisely on this day, April 1, 2013, we were flushing because the Alqueva was filled to level 152”, recalled the same source, adding that, in the following year, the reservoir “was also practically full, but There was no need to carry out unloading there.”
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.
Controlled discharges
In 2013, after reaching a height of 151.98 meters, that is, very close to 152 meters, the Alqueva dam began, at 11pm on March 31st, a discharge operation to control the volume of water stored, the management company announced. , the following day, Lusa reported at the time.
On that occasion, the 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 you can read. 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, around 3,500 million cubic meters of water was released until March of this year.
Alqueva is the largest artificial lake in Europe and has a floodable area of 250 square kilometers and around 1100 kilometers of banks. The floodgates were closed on February 8, 2002, and the process of filling the reservoir began.
