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Balbina Dam
Balbina Dam
Location	Amazonas, Brazil
Coordinates	01°55′02″S 59°28′25″W / 1.91722°S 59.47361°W
Construction began	1985
Opening date	1989
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Uatumã River
Height	33 m (108 ft)
Length	2,920 m (9,580 ft)
Reservoir
Creates	Balbina Reservoir
Total capacity	17.54 km3 (14,220,000 acre⋅ft)
Catchment area	16,502 km2 (6,371 sq mi)
Surface area	2,360 km2 (910 sq mi)
Maximum water depth	30 m (98 ft)
Power Station
Operator(s)	Manaus Energia
Commission date	1989
Turbines	5 × 50 MW (67,000 hp)
Installed capacity	250 MW (340,000 hp)

The Balbina Dam (Portuguese: Usina Hidrelétrica de Balbina) is a hydroelectric dam and power station on the Uatumã River in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil. The location is under the municipality of Presidente Figueiredo jurisdiction, in the state of Amazonas.

Structure

The Balbina Dam was built from 1985 to 1989 and is managed by Manaus Energia, under the Eletronorte system. The first of five generators began operating in February 1989. The dam has an installed capacity of 250 megawatts (340,000 hp) and floods a 2,360-square-kilometre (910 sq mi) area.^[1]^[2]

Controversy

The dam was established to provide a renewable electricity supply to the city of Manaus but was considered by locals a controversial project from the start, due to the loss of forest and displacement of tribal homes grounds.^[3] About 2,928.5 square kilometres (1,130.7 sq mi) of land formerly occupied by the Waimiri-Atroari was removed from the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Territory and flooded.^[4] The dam was also criticized for its expensive construction and maintenance costs.^[3] As a result of the methane released from its vast reservoir, proportional to its output, the Balbina Dam emits ten times more greenhouse gases than a coal plant.^[5]^[6] The dam is the least efficient in Brazil in terms of the area flooded for each megawatt generated.^[7]

Conservation

The lake and island ecosystems formed by the dam are protected by the 938,720 hectares (2,319,600 acres) Uatumã Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conservation unit created in 2002.^[8] The west shore is protected by the 374,700 hectares (926,000 acres) Caverna do Maroaga Environmental Protection Area, established in 1990.^[9] Downstream from the dam the Uatumã runs through the 424,430 hectares (1,048,800 acres) Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve, created in 2004.^[10] The dam regulates the river flow through the reserve, and reduces seasonal flooding.^[7]

References

^ "Hydroelectric power stations in Brazil". Archived from the original on 2012-06-30. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
^ Philip M. Fearnside 2006.
^ ^a ^b Balbina, a hidrelétrica que não deu certo – CEPA.
^ Baines 2008, p. 50.
^ "Dams in the Amazon: The rights and wrongs of Belo Monte". The Economist. 4 May 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
^ Grossman, Daniel (18 September 2019). "Deliberate drowning of Brazil's rainforest is worsening climate change". New Scientist. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^ ^a ^b Sobre a RDS – RDS do Uatumã, Geografia.
^ Unidade de Conservação: Reserva Biológica do Uatumã.
^ APA Caverna do Maroaga ... ISA, Informações gerais (mapa).
^ RDS do Uatumã – ISA, Características.

Sources

APA Caverna do Maroaga (Presidente Figueiredo) (in Portuguese), ISA: Instituto Socioambiental, retrieved 2016-10-20
Baines, Stephen G. (2008-10-27), "The Reconstruction of Waimiri-Atroari Territory", in Adolfo de Oliveira (ed.), Decolonising Indigenous Rights, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-134-30076-1, retrieved 2016-07-29
Balbina, a hidrelétrica que não deu certo, CEPA: Centro de Ensino e Pesquisa Aplicada, retrieved 2016-07-29
Philip M. Fearnside (2006-08-26), Balbina Dam, Amazonas, Department of Ecology, National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), doi:10.1007/BF01867675, S2CID 154405904
RDS do Uatumã (in Portuguese), ISA: Instituto Socioambiental, retrieved 2016-07-25
Sobre a RDS (in Portuguese), RDS do Uatumã, archived from the original on 2016-09-17, retrieved 2016-07-25
Unidade de Conservação: Reserva Biológica do Uatumã (in Portuguese), MMA: Ministério do Meio Ambiente, retrieved 2016-04-18