Barragem de Poilão

Barragem de Poilão
The front and the dam of Barragem de Poilão
Location	Santa Cruz, Santiago, Cape Verde
Coordinates	15°04′26″N 23°33′25″W / 15.074°N 23.557°WCoordinates: 15°04′26″N 23°33′25″W / 15.074°N 23.557°W
Type	Artificial Lake
Primary inflows	Ribeira Seca
Primary outflows	Ribeira Seca
Basin countries	Cape Verde
Max. length	70 to 100 meters
Max. width	around 1 km
Surface area	around 0.07 km2
Max. depth	26 m (85 ft)
Water volume	0.17 km^3 (140,000 acre·ft)

Barragem de Poilão is a reservoir located in the east central part of the island of Santiago, Cape Verde, mainly in the municipality of Santa Cruz but with the western part partly in São Lourenço dos Órgãos. It is located on the stream Ribeira Seca (Portuguese for "dry stream", as most of the year the stream flows without water).

Several lagoons on Boa Vista and Maio islands were Cape Verde's only lakes before the construction of the reservoir. It is one of Cape Verde's largest lakes; the dam impounding it was the only concrete dam in Cape Verde until the construction of three other dams, two on the same island in 2013 and one on Santo Antão in 2014.

The artificial lake was laid out between the villages Poilão and Lavada dos Orgãos with a fill dam that was completed in 2006.^[1] The reservoir has a capacity of 1.7 million cubic meters, making possible the drip irrigation of 64 hectares (160 acres) of land, corresponding to about 100 farms. The irrigation usage is 1.2 million cubic meters.^[2] The construction of the concrete dam was paid for and planned by China. There is an information pavilion to the south of the artificial lake where some rare birds can be observed.

References

1. Reitmaier, Pitt: Cabo Verde, p.364-5. Bielefeld 2009.
2. A Semana, 29 de Outubro de 2009, http://asemana.sapo.cv.

External links

• "Agriculture in the area within Poilão Reservoir in the Island of Santiago" (in Portuguese). RTC. 2011-04-26.