Salvajina Dam

The Salvajina Dam and its associated hydroelectric power station on the Río Cauca are in Buenos Aires ( Cauca ), in the municipality of Suarez ( Cauca ) in the southwest of Colombia.

The building was completed in September 1985. It has a power plant with an installed capacity of 270 (285 ) MW. The purpose of the dam is flood control, electricity generation and the maintenance of a low degree of contamination of the water in the zone in which the drinking water for the city of Cali is withdrawn.

Owners and operators

The management, especially for flood prevention, is in the hands of the Corporación autónoma regional del Valle del Cauca (CVC ), which in the case of disagreement has decision-making power. EPSA ( Empresa de Energía del Pacífico ) owns and operates the dam at investments of Colener SAS, Inversiones Argos SA and Banco de Inversión Bancolombia S. A.

Specifications

The dam is 148 m high and 400 m long and in type a rockfill dam with concrete sealing. His dam has a size of 764.7 million m³, of which 695.7 million m³ of usable space and 69.0 million m³ dead space. The reservoir is 26 km long and lies at an altitude of 1155 m above sea level. According to other data it is 31 km long.

Through an intake tower water three 90 MW Francis turbines flows to whose generators have a combined capacity of 270 MW. Each turbine has a maximum flow rate of 116.5 m³ / s for a total outflow of 349.5 m³ / s The dam was of INGETEC S. A. planned.

Criticism

The criticism by several national and international non-governmental organizations directed against violations of human rights as against ecological deficiencies in the construction and operation of the dam Salvajina. There are various estimates of the number of the population who had to make way for the reservoir, ranging from 3000 to 6000 people. According Biodiversidad en América Latina y El Caribe people who have been displaced by the dam, were not adequately compensated. According to the Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos the Colombian military and illegal paramilitary forces were used to distribute the population and the Campaña Prohibido Olvidar indicates that protesters were harassed. A lawyer, who accompanied the protesters, Oscar Elías López, was killed in a cafe in Cali.