Engineering characterization of hydraulic works in Ciego de Avila province

Abstract

Hydraulic works play an important role in modern societies inimproving the quality of life of the population, ensuring drinking waterreserves, especially in periods of drought and reducing the risk offlooding. For these reasons, a qualitative, applied, non-experimentaland descriptive investigation was developed with the objective ofcharacterizing the main hydraulic works built in the Ciego de Ávilaprovince that contributes to decision-making with a view to theirconservation and improvement. It was found that the Chambas I dam(Cañada Blanca) allows the storage of large volumes of water fromsurface runoff; Therefore, it represents a guarantee for the supply ofwater for agricultural irrigation and human supply in the province ofCiego de Ávila. In the same way, the Chambas Derivative can capturesmall volumes of surface runoff; but its fundamental function is toraise the water level for its conduction and delivery to irrigation andfry through the master channel. The Zaza-Ciego Transfer Canal is one ofthe most important open conduits in Cuba to increase the availability ofwater in the southern area of Ciego de Ávila. The Estero Socorro andChicola Dams are essential works for the desalination of the Laguna dela Leche and finally the Great Northern Wetland contributes to thereduction of environmental problems and the development of adaptationsystems to climate change.