Poechos Reservoir is a middle-sized reservoir on Peru's Chira River

Chira River

Río Chira is the name of a river in northern Peru whose mouth is 20 km north of the provincial capital of Piura.Its source is in the Ecuadorian Andes near the town of Papaca in the province Loja from where it flows for ca 250 km in easterly directions...

 in the border area between Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

.
Its purpose is to improve the accumulation of water stocks in the upper part of Peru's Chira basin by flood control

Flood control

In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...

, irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

, drainage

Drainage

Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...

 and electricity generation

Electricity generation

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

.

Location

The Poechos Reservoir is situated in the northernmost part of Peru, in the lower flow of the rivers Chira and Piura, about 50 km north of Piura

Piura

Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July 1532...

, the capital of the Piura Region

Piura Region

Piura is a coastal region in northwestern Peru. The region's capital is Piura and its largest port cities, Paita and Talara, are also among the most important in Peru...

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It is located on 4° 3' southern latitude and 80° 2' western longitude at an altitude of 98 m in the Lancones district of the province of Sullana

Sullana

Sullana is the name of the capital of the Sullana Province, in the north-western coastal plains of Peru on the Chira valley.-Location:Sullana is located at 04°53' south latitude and 80°41' west longitude, 38 km north of Piura, the capital of the region.-Climate:The province has a tropical...

, approximately 30 km from the border with Ecuador.

Phase 1 (1970 to 1977)

The first phase included the construction of

• the rock filled Poechos dam (9 km long with a maximum height of about 55 m and a total excavation volume of 9,000,000 m³;
• the diversion tunnel built into the bottom outlet with a maximum capacity of 14 m³/s;
• the concrete gravitational block of the overflow structure (400,000 m³ concrete) with radial gates with a total capacity up to ,500 m³/s;
• the safety overflow of circa 200 m length with a capacity up to 10,000 m³/s;
• the headwater discharge and the headwater channel with a capacity of 70 m³/s (8,00,000 m³ excavation and 1,000,000 m³ of concrete for channel lining);
• the channel drainage system in the lower Chira (10,000,000 m³ excavation in total) flows through over 1,000 structures on the channel network (overflows, outlets, gates, etc.)

Phase 2 (1978 to 1985)

The second phase covered

• the headwater dam Los Ejedos which is 220 m long with a maximum height of 20 m and a gate capacity of 3,000 m³/s;
• the main channel, which is 42 km long and has a capacity of 45 m³/s;
• the protecting embankments (60 km long) along the Piura;
• the channel system with supporting structures over an area of 350 km².

Phase 3 (1985 to 1997)

The third phase consisted of

• the headwater dam Sullana which is 75 m long, has a maximum height of 12 m and has gates with a total capacity of up to 5,000 m³/s;
• the headwater channel Norte with a capacity of 25,500 m³/s over 56 km which irrigate 150 km²;
• the channel Sur which is circa 35 km long with a capacity of 7 m³/s for irrigation of about 70 km² (in total about 5,000,000 m³ excavation);
• about 60 km of dykes along the regulated river bed in the lower Chira flow (about 5,500,000 m³ of embankment).

Phase 4 (2002 to 2004)

The final phase included

• the 12.5 MW Curumuy dam and power plant, completed in 2000;
• the 15.4 MW Poechos I Hydroelectric Project which was completed in 2004.

Capacities

The capacity of the reservoir is 1,000,000,000 m³, its catchment area 14,000 m², its maximum depth 46 m.

The irrigation dam is 49 m high and 9 km wide at crest and at its bottom has a conduit to discharge water at a rate of 4 m³/s.

The original design brief was to revitalise the Piura valley, which was short of water, and provide modern irrigation for approximately 350 km² of arable land.

The Poechos I Hydroelectric Plant is operated by Sindicato Energético S.A (SINERSA). The Poechos I power house has 15.4 MW in installed capacity and generates 60 GW·h annually for Electronoroeste, the concessionary for energy distribution in northwestern Peru. The power plant is to accomplish a 90% national electrification level of the country by the year 2010 by using a zero emission energy source.

External links

• UNFCCC Project 0086: Poechos
• Chira-Piura Water Management System, Peru