INDEX:

1. Introduction
2. General technical concepts
3. Electrical base
4. The electrical system
5. The hydraulic work
6. Gross amounts and term estimations
7. Continuation
8. Conclusion

GLOSSARY

1. Presentations
2. This Internet Edition
3. Final reflection

Enclosures

1. Reference power calculation
2. Surface waters, province of Buenos Aires
3. Provincial Electrical System
4. Natinal Interconnected System (SIN)
5. Press iformation, 11/20/85, missing amounts
6. Press information, 11/21/85, flooded areas
7. Lecture in Carhue, capital of Adolfo Alsina County

1. INTRODUCTION

This project is based upon two simple and traditional beliefs: "great harms great remedies" and "starting now our grandchildren will live better, otherwise their missfortunes will be worse than ours".

The Buenos Aires province floods, beyond economical evaluations of more than 1,500 million U.S. dollars each time, cause the destruction of the ground used for farming and pasturing which will need years to recovery. They mean years of reconstruction of cities, towns, industries and structural works; they disable de operation and production capacity of thousands of square miles of the province. They strike physically and morally hundred of thousands of citizens who miss their homes and properties under the water, to be reconstructed (not always possible) during years of enormous efforts and economic scarcities. They mean millions of dollars losses of exportable production; they mean inflation because of major expenses of the Estate with less resourses.

This is what I call "great harms". Facinf such a big repeating calamity traditional solutions are not enough, even with great traditional works. It's needed to challenge the imagination and aim to "great remedies".

The great works of tremendous cost require years of execution ann multiple efforts, but they are a certain goal wich is being acheived progressibely and authentically with everybody's participation and conviction. The works are worthy because the citizens can see the benefit they are leaving to their descendents; because they put in action the primary instinc of life conservation.

The great work this project means will not be an exception either for the country or for the province of Buenos Aires. Nature and the large territory extensions have and will continue to state great chal1enges. (INDEX)

2. GENERAL TECHNICAL CONCEPTS

This project has a base of electrical specialization, which being understood the rest will become acceptabie. Nevertheless, we'll start 1ooking at several physical characteristics of the floods.

2.1 The province of Buenos Aires is a great flat area, with very little slope for the natural dripping of water. Most of the surface ie below the 100 mts. over the sea. Only the western counties ("Partidos") and around the hills of the axis Saavedra-Tandil surpass this altitude. Distances to the sea are up to 1000 km, it means an average altitud of 10 m. every 100 km (Enclosure 2 shows elevations of several county head towns).

2.2 The zone of Trenque Lauquen and Guamini is surrounded by slighty higher lands towards the sea, which stops the dripping, favours the stanation of the floods and makes clear the existance of lagoons collecting small water flows.

2.3 To the South west of Saavedra and Torquinst hilIs, water flows and rain regimes become more and more scarce, making that counties like Villarino and Patagones have great desert areas.

2.4 The idea of this project is to profit precisely from the ground depressions and the lagoons, to be prepared as places to captivate water for pumping to heiqhts of around 10 m. to be overflown: a) to find favourabie slopes for the natural dripping towards the sea and b) towards desert areas.

2.5 This type of works can systematise the hydraulic control by zones. A characteristic example is the triangle Rivadavia-Carlos Casares-Guamini, depressed zone traditionally affected by the stopping of the floods and where, several years after, the waters remain there. (INDEX)

3. ELECTRICAL BASE

The Enclosure 1 gives an analysis basic calculation which says: 900 MVA pumping power during 1 month is needed to elevate 10 m. the water of 10,000 km2, 1 million hectares, with an average flood level of 1 m. (each county reports around 200,000 and 300,000 hectares of flooded areas).

This makes possible the following table for the analysis of alternatives:

This table allows the following considerations:

3.1 900 MA, similar to half Salto Grande (mediterranean argentine Hydraulic Public Utility) or 60% Chocon (south Argentina hydraulic generation dam), must be considered only as a reference value, as regards its possibi 1 i ti es and bene-fits.

3.2 The time of flood evacuation, pumping time, is fundamental to proportionaly expand the benefit to some area expanding the operation time only. from 1 to 8 million hectares. Compare cases 1-5, 2-14 and 4-13.

3.3 Other combinations of less heights of flood waters and other pumping heights make possible to diversify the service facilities to have greater benefited areas and to reduce pumping power. Compare cases 9-18.1 and 2-20, for instance.

3.4 Pravious paragraphs show the possibility to divide the pumping power to serve different areas. Pumping groups of 200 and 400 MVA may function spread round the province, with sequential operation and not precisely simultaneously.

3.5 Specific facilities might be used to reduce and to find the best electric pumping perfomance. The immediate tool is computer application. Having the works and the operation system, it will be no sense to wait for the flood consummation; on the contrary, they will be used to prevent them. This is, precisely, the objective of this project and will be the way to recover the investments.

3.6 It can be seen that smaller power modules can be used if operation times are extended, up to 12 months, for instance (see case 18.1). On this way, attention must be paid on two aspects, one plays against the time: ground degradation, and another one which help to reduce power: phenomenon preventive accompany.

3.7 Going back to Guamini mention (see 2.2), the objective will be to keep their standard water levels constant.

3.8 In practice, this project proposes the operation of pumping stations to anticipate and accompany the rains and other surface incoming waters. This will be the opportunity for the computer system help, to find the best service and to reduce the pumping power actually needed. This will finally be the knot of the feasibility studies to be made opportunately.

3.9 The water flow colum demonstrates how enormous is the phenomenom to figh with. Remember, as reference, that the flow of Negro river (south Argentina) is 1000 m3/sec. and Uruguay river (Argentina-Uruguay border) may reach 4000 m3/sec. In the province the available evacuation flows are very small, the rivulets Salado, Vallimanca and San Borombom have respectively 60. 13 and 8 m3/sec. These data help to understand why flood waters remain such a long time (years) in the province of Buenos Aires.

3.10 The previous paragraphs rebound: a) the magnitude of the needed works after the pumping stations, b) the necessity to find solutions with minor modules, c) the convenience of using as solution strategy the moving of water masses from one place to another and, very specialy, d) to consider the pumping to desert areas. (INDEX)

4. THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

The Enclosure 4 shows the National Interconnected System (SIN). The high voltage power line Chocon-Buenos Aires crosses precisely the flooded area. This makes possible to arrive with 500 kV to the pumping stations, to make the due voltage reductions and to feed pumps of more than 1000 HP each one. The present technology allows these powers, with starting and operation facilities, using syncronous motors with regulated frequency (AC/DC/ AC, "back-to-back" systems).

Chocon-Buenos Aires power line is able to carry energy compatible with the mentioned pumping needs (see Enclosure 3). Obviously, it does not mean contemporaneous loss of this power for the area of the Federal Capital of Argentina. The proposal is to use as pumping power the free electrical power out of the well known day and night picks hours of consumption. Let's say for the whole Interconnected System: The SIN operation must coordinate, adequately, the generation sources availabe in the country.

A proposal like tis could be executed if the Argentine State embrace a national policy decision to operate the available energy sources and to design future electrical works in the country, in order to prevent and fight against the floods (it's not enough a similar decision of the Provincial State of Buenos Aires). (INDEX)

5. THE HYDRAULIC WORK

As the well hnown hydro-electric generation plants this is a project which starts with th electric phenomenom and is nourished and completed with most of the enqineering specialisations. Among them hydraulic works will have a great cost participation, for instance:

5.I Water conveying and containing for pumping stations; lagoon arrangements, for instance.

5.2 Channels up to the pumping stations.

5.3 Channel networks between pumping stations.

5.4 Piping for water elevation to find out natural dripping slopes.

5.5 Improve basins existing rivers to the Atlantic sea, for greater flows of water.

5.6 Generation of new water ways towards desert zones.

5.7 Cornplementary and compensation works to be used in emergency conditions.

These works are easy to foreseen in the case of "Las Tunas" lagoons of Trenque Lauquen or the "Encadenadas" of Guamini. Let's see the last one:

Guamini's "Alsina" lagoon collects the zone water (as its neighbour ones), has a height over the sea of 105.7 m. and is only 40 km. (towards North-West) far from lagoon El Tordillo in Bolivar county. El Tordillo has an altitude of 110.0 m.; 4.30 mts. higher than Alsina only, but El Tordillo drains towards the Atlantic throught the Salado and Vallimanca rivulets. (INDEX)

6. GROSS AMOUNT AND TERM ESTIMATIONS

These works can be similar, as a preliminary approximati on, to an hydro-electric power generation plant of small height and great flow of water, as it's Salto Grande dam, which has a present cost of around 3000 millions U.S. dollars for 18990 MW.

Adoopting a preliminary and conservative unit price, for complete work, of 1.5 Million U.S. dollars for installed MVA, we can build the following table which complement the previous one:

To follow we can see:

6.1 The operating time increasing is very important to reduce the cost per beneficed hectare (see cases 1, 5 and 18 or comparare the groups 1-3 with 19-21, with larger surfaces also). Remember it's of the same effect, the peventive accompany of the phenomenom with minor powers.

6.2 It appears as an interesting alternative the implementation of successively modules of around 50 MVA (see cases 5.1 with 75 MVA module and 18.1 with modules of 37,5 MVA), within a global plan, the first of which may have a "pilot" character to verify and, at the same time, demonstrate to the citizens the effective benefit of the system.

6.3 The amounts of Total Cost colum, millions of U.S. dollars, must be compared with the mentioned losses that the province of Buenos Aires suffer with the floods, of around 1500 millions of the same money each time.

If the floods come every year, with different desarter levels even, this table makes evident that the cost amounts of the works become smaller than the accomulation of the losses that each flood produces. It's the sense of this project.

A work having provincial effects may need a 20 years term, with partial start ups and partial benefits from the first five years on. The great works investiment, along 20 years, will become to much less than the losses they will be progressively avoiding.

It's not to believe that the flood effects will be redueced to cero. Provincial reduction losses will occur progressively with the continuos partial start ups of the work. Remaining losses are foressen but it will be absolutely diffetrent to the province and its citizens that, for instance, the harms waited over the available works be only 10% of what had happened without those works. It's a reality data of any enterprising, that the project engineering can preventely calculate. (INDEX)

7. CONTINUATION

A project like this should continue with the following steps:

7.1 Incorporation of greater information and specific developments about:

a. Natural phenomenoms and physical-climate characteristics of the environment.

b. Electrical technical solutions.

c. Computer technical solutions.

d. Hydraulic technical solutions.

7.2 Pre-feasibility report.

7.3 Political support research (preliminary political decision)

7.4 Financial support research (preliminary financial decision)

7.5 Feasibility study.

7.6 Political decision and financing compromise.

7.7 Basic and Detail Engineering.

7.8 Works.

8. CONCLUSION

Technology and financy are possible for this project. What is needed is a political decision. One State Decision (not only a goverment one) to compromise it self, in great scale, with the progressive remedy of the immense flood missfortune. (INDEX)

Eng. Jorge B. Hoyos Ty. - M. B. Gonnet, June 10th, 1988

GLOSSARY

1. PRESENTATIONS

Since its edition, this project has been presented several times, for instance:

• Publication by the REVISTA DE INGENIERÍA (Engineering Magazin), Engineering Center of Buenos Aires Province, N° 127, Year XXXIII, January-June, 1998.
• The project enter to the Engineering Faculty of the National University of La Plata under Expedient 300.78117, year 1990. Project GPP was handled by representatives of akin Professorships and Departments as a Macro Engineerinf Group.
• 6/3/93, note to Prof. Orestes Beltrachini, Senator of Buenos Aires Province.
• 6/9/93, note to Eng. Enrique Lozada, President of the "Radical Enginners Group".
• 7/7/93, note to Eng. Pablo Massa, Dean of the U.N.L.P. Engineering Faculty to present a solution for the floods in the Deep Vlalley of "Las Encadenadas" (South-West of Buenos Aires province) with two water evacuation ways, using this project.
  
• 9/6/93 Lecture in Carhué, head town of Adolfo Alsina county, having the West end of "Las Encadenadas" (presentation of the two evacuations ways mentioned before), beeing present the Mayor of the County, Olga Urrutia de Senepart and political and civil personalities of the zone.
  
• "Proposal of one West exit for Las Encadenadas water" - First page article published by "NUEVA ERA" regional weekly mewspaper of Carhue, September 9, 1993, Year 4, N° 231, referred to the lecture mentioned before. (INDEX)

2. THIS INTERNET EDITION

This Internet edition is dated December 2002. In the province of Buenos Aires projects are beeing developed with zone scopes and small water flow for evacuation or movilization of water masses. It continuous to lack a systematic big scale focalization, followed in the time and independant of the political changes. Then, this project continous to be valid.

The concepts of this project have application not only in other argentine provinces which suffer similar catastrophes but, for the same reason, in other parts of the world.

Two comments: a) The cost amounts correspond to the year 1988, to have an aproximated actualization could be prudent to use an accumulative yearly inflation of 2 to 3%. b) It's shown the dates of the used electrical power schemes; any development of them is better for the electrical disposal for this project. Complementary, eventual larger electrical demands have few effect in such electrical disposal because, as it has been said, this proposal uses the available energy in the "valleys" of the typical dayly curves of electrical consumptions. (INDEX)

3. FINAL REFLECTION

A project like this means high industrial and labour reaction for the country, because it convokes all of the engineering specialities and because it needs to be sustained in the time. The consequent benefits for the ground mean to secure and impulse farming production.

It's not easy to imagin that a province which yearly budget is 10,000 millions of U.S. dollars (year 2001) where it's only assigned 244 millions to its Public Works an Services Ministery and a country, Argentina, ran for generations into external debts (around 150,000 millions U.S. dollars) and close to default, have the force to adopt one State decision with the spread needed to fight in big scale against the floods, not only in Buenos Aires but in various other provinces. In the mean time the floods continuous to accumulate thousands of million dollars losses.

It's interesting to see, in one end, that this proposed 1,500 millions U.S. dollars project means only 1% (one per cent) of that mentioned argentine external debt; and it´s also 1.1 % (one point one percent) of the argentine capital outside the country, around 140,000 millions U.S. dollars. In the other end, it´s clear that it's proposed a progressive investiment, ten years, 150 millions yearly average, for instance,

Contrasts and contradictions which help to think, any way, that Argentina have conditions to face the floods if it adopts and support in the time the needed State policy. Decision that not only would remed an enormous disaster but would impulse a solid economic reaction. (INDEX)

Eng. Jorge B. Hoyos Ty. - December 2002 - -

ENCLOSURES

Eclosure 1

(INDEX)

Enclosure 2: Surface waters, province of Buenos Aires

--

(INDEX)

Enclosure 3: Buenos Aires Province Electrical System

(INDEX)

Enclosure 4: Argentina National Interconnected System

(INDEX)

Enclosure 5: Press information, 11/20/85, missing amounts

(INDEX)

Enclosure 6: Press information, 11/21/85, flooded areas

(INDEX)

Enclosure 7: Lecture in Carhue, capital of Adolfo Alsina County

(INDEX)