Brasília, March 1, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The 12 sluice gates in the spillway of the Castanhão Dam, 253 kilometers from Fortaleza (CE), were opened and tested for the first time Friday (27) morning, when the water in the reservoir reached 97.72 meters above sea level. At 5 P.M. the reservoir contained 3.7 billion cubic meters, 55.8% of its total capacity of 6.7 billion cubic meters. For 30 minutes on Friday, an average of 300 cubic meters of agua ran off per second, while on Saturday (28) the reservoir was filling at a rate of 1000 cubic meters per second.

Residents of municipalities in the vicinity of the dam gathered along the banks of the Jaguaribe River to witness the test, which was also accompanied by the governor of Ceará, Lúcio Alcântara, and the secretary of Hydro-Infrastructure of the Ministry of National Integration, Hypérides Macêdo, who represented Minister Ciro Gomes.

"The operation of the sluice gates is perfect, everything worked fine," remarked the director of Hydro-Infrastructure of the Dnocs (National Department of Anti-Drought Works), César Pinheiro. A new test is planned for when the reservoir reaches the 100 meter level, which corresponds to a total stored volume of 4.2 billion cubic meters. To reach its maximum depth, 106 meters, depends upon the completion of works in Jaguaretama, one of the four municipalities in Ceará that had parts of their territory submerged by the waters of Castanhão.

This information was provided by the Ministry of National Integration. (DAS)