Venezuela drought reveals long-submerged town

By Charlie Devereux, Joshua Schneyer in Caracas; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
POTOSI, Venezuela
Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:49pm EST POTOSI, Venezuela (Reuters) – For most Venezuelans, the El Nino-linked drought that has struck the country this year means inconveniences like power and water rationing. But for some, the extreme dry spell is stirring up bittersweet memories. The Uribante reservoir that feeds a hydroelectric dam here is at its lowest level in decades, and the receding waters have uncovered a village that has been mostly underwater since 1985, when it was flooded. … Normally, only the church spire can be seen jutting out of the 4,900-acre (20-square-km) reservoir. But water levels recently fell 98 feet, revealing eerie remnants: the church, demolished houses, a cemetery, a square. The spire usually serves as a depth gauge for the water reservoir, whose falling levels are a grim reminder of electricity shortages across the country. President Hugo Chavez earlier this month declared an electricity emergency in Venezuela, where hydropower usually accounts for 68 percent of electricity generation. The crisis provoked one state electricity company to organize a meeting among its workers to pray for an end to the crisis. … The reservoir is now within 10 feet of its “critical level” to feed power turbines. Its Leonardo Ruiz Pineda hydroelectric plant, the third largest in Venezuela, is operating at under 10 percent of its 300 MW/hour capacity, to keep water levels from falling further. The plant may soon be forced to further slash generation, Barillas said, since there is little rain in the regional forecast. The reservoir now appears to be falling faster than a 0.4-inch (1-cm) per day average rate earlier this month. A recent report by Edelca, one of the state water companies, warned of a national electricity grid collapse by May unless drastic measures are taken. Chavez has said the country’s largest hydroelectric dam, Guri, could reach critical level in June if the drought continues. … But engineers here were also alarmed by a 3 degree Celsius average temperature rise this year in the dam reservoir, which they linked to deforestation, global warming and a longer-term fall in water levels throughout the region.