• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 05 / 21 / 2011

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Construction of a dam at the Mayarí river in eastern Cuba is nearing completion, and a reservoir will soon be ready to be flooded, Granma reported.

The 630 million-cubic meter Melones reservoir is the keystone project of a complex and costly water supply system that will connect the water-rich Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa watersheds with the city of Holguín, tourist resorts along the northern coast, and agricultural areas in Holguín, Las Tunas and Camagüey provinces, via canals, pumps, and tunnels.

At the Melones reservoir, workers have begun installing a regulating valve in a tunnel where the Mayarí river has been redirected, Granma said, adding that this last task before filling the reservoir is expected to be completed within two weeks. The second phase of the East-West system is planned to be operational in the second half of this year, once a tunnel system connecting the Melones reservoir to the Sabanilla reservoir is completed.

The third and fourth phases — the most expensive stages — would connect the Melones reservoir with the Sagua river watershed and ultimately Moa to the east; and with the agricultural plains of Las Tunas and Camagüey provinces to the west. Plans include construction of six reservoirs and hundreds of miles of tunnels and canals.

Construction of the East-West Transvase system began in the 1980s but was disrupted by the economic crisis. It restarted in 2005, under the direction of the armed forces and Raúl Castro, who officially opened the first phase of the project in 2009 that connects the city of Holguín with the Nipe reservoir.

At the same time, the government is spending more than $40 million to renovate the aging water system in the city of Holguín, partly funded by a Kuwaiti loan.

Five years ago, at the height of the drought of the century, residents of the provincial capital had to be supplied with water from tanker trucks.

The country’s leaders assume that climate change will bring extended drought to the arid eastern half of the island. The east-west water system, together with a north-south system in Guantánamo and a central system in Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey provinces that are also under construction, are expected to provide long-term relief and water security for cities, tourism resorts and agriculture.

When opening the first phase of the East-West project two years ago, Raúl Castro said that water “will have more value than nickel or oil” for Cuba.

While the reconstruction of the water system in the city of Santiago, also in eastern Cuba, has been hampered by delays and cost overruns, the second phase of the East-West Transvase was finished in time. The military has been in charge of the project since restarting it in 2005, via state company Empresa de Servicios Ingenieros DIP-Trasvases, which is staffed by members of the armed forces.

One of the biggest foreign contractors in the East-West project is the Mexican subsidiary of Swiss specialty chemicals producer. Sika Mexicana S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Sika AG of Baar, Switzerland, is providing the project with chemicals and structures that optimize load-bearing concrete, as well as equipment.

Source: www.cubastandard.com/2011/05/19/keystone-reservoir-of-big-water-system-t...