Thursday, September 14, 2017

Irma’s Rains Help Fill Cuba Reservoirs
From September 5 to date, the volume of water in the country’s reservoirs has increased by 1.9 billion cubic meters

Orfilio Peláez | orfilio@granma.cu
September 13, 2017 18:09:00
Photo: Vicente Brito

The country’s reservoirs have significantly benefited from the consistent rains caused by Hurricane Irma’s wide area of influence, above all those in the central and eastern regions of the island, where the lowest levels were registered before the powerful storm arrived.

According to Yosmary Gil, director of water infrastructure at the National Water Resources Institute (IRNH), speaking to Granma, as of 8:00am on September 12, the 242 reservoirs managed by the organization contained about 5,500,000,000 cubic meters of water representing an increase of 1.9 billion cubic meters (rising from 40 to 61% of their total capacity) since September 5.

The greatest increases were seen in reservoirs in the provinces of Sancti Spíritus (815,000,000 mm3), Villa Clara (331,900,000 m3), Camagüey (262,340,000 m3), Granma (132,970,000 m3) and Holguín 97,400,000 mm3.

Of particular importance is the recovery of the Zaza reservoir, the country’s largest, where water levels rose from 17 to 81%, for a total of around 825,000,000 cubic meters of water, after it received 666,310,000 m3 of rainfall in just over 72 hours.

Water levels also increased across 189 reservoirs and with maximums exceeded in 41, above all in the provinces of Pinar del Río (10), Camagüey (8) and Sancti Spíritus (6).

The reservoirs to receive the highest levels of accumulated rainfall were the Telecorreo de Cabaiguán, in Sancti Spíritus, with 963.3 mm; the Telecorreo Jibaco Manicaragua (826mm) and Telecorrreo Santa Lucía, Cabaiguán, (785.2 mm).

While the provinces to receive the most rainfall were Sancti Spíritus with 358.8 mm (167% of its monthly average), Villa Clara 211.8 mm (118 %) and Ciego de Ávila, 184.3 mm (113 %).

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