The inauguration of another stage of the São Francisco River transposition project will guarantee water sustainability for 39 more municipalities in Paraíba, reaching around 680 thousand people as of this Friday (30). In addition, it will guarantee irrigation for more than 16 thousand hectares and the development of family and business farming activities, and for the raising of fish and shrimp in ponds.
“Water is arriving in a place where people thought it would never reach,” said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as he opened the valve that released water from Lot 2 of the Paraíba Coastal section of the canal that connects Acauã to Araçagi.
This is the largest water project in Paraíba and the second in the Northeast, guaranteeing “quality of life, employment and income for rural areas”, according to Planalto.
“I want you to know how happy I am to be able to come here, press a button and see water that will save many lives. To see this water that will help many small rural producers. This water will be used for children, women and men to drink; it will be used for our chickens, pigs, cows and donkeys. This water is life for humans and animals,” said the president.
“And it will reach the settlements here, so that they can be quite productive,” he added, recalling that 73% of the work was built during President Dilma Rousseff’s term.
Work
The Acauã-Araçagi canal will serve the central region (mesoregion) of the Paraíba hinterland on a regular and continuous basis, including during the dry season, according to the Presidency of the Republic. The set of works on the Paraíba Coastal Slope covers three sections: the first, approximately 44.9 km long, receives water from the eastern axis of the São Francisco River, from the Acauã dam, reaching the Sifão Curimataú region. It was completed in 2023.
The second section is 52 km long and starts at Sifão Curimataú. The third, 33.7 km long, connects the second section to the Camaratuba River basin, passing through the Araçagi reservoir.
According to Planalto, the Acauã-Araçagi canal comprises 17 segments of open channels, totaling 130.6 km. With the completion of lots 1 and 2, it is now possible to serve 24 municipalities in urban and rural areas, six Incra settlements and the basins of the rivers, Surrão, Ingá, Mogeiro, Curimataú, Gurinhém, São Salvador and Una.
