Bolsonaro unveils new stage in construction of Sertão Canal in Alagoas

The Sertão Alagoano Canal uses water from the São Francisco river to serve the rural area comprised by 42 municipalities in Alagoas state. When the project is concluded, the canal will be 250 km long and should benefit a million people.

President Jair Bolsonaro took part in the ceremony that marked the conclusion of another stage in the construction of the Sertão de Alagoas Canal, in Piranhas, Alagoas. During the event, a contract was signed to earmark $2.66 million for the conclusion of the fourth phase of the initiative, expected to reach 113 thousand residents in the state’s hinterland, or Sertão, as it is often referred to in Brazil.

The canal is part of the project of transposition of the São Francisco river to the regions assailed by the drought in the Brazilian Northeast.

The president celebrated the coming of the water in a good mood. He turned on a shower to symbolize the inauguration and got wet with the children who were attending the event.

Water is changing the lives of the people in the Brazilian Sertão. Valmir Santana, who has lived in Piranhas for 40 years, joined the canal project as a construction worker and is among those benefited by the plan. “Water means life, and the canal has brought life to the Sertão.”

Field worker José Laércio, 62, has always lived in the Sertão. He said that earlier, he had to walk 36 km to fetch water. Now he turns on a tap and waters the crops. “Now I can plant everything all-year-round and I won’t need to spend a whole day walking to get water.”

The Sertão Canal will ensure the supply for those living in drought-stricken areas. Other stretches of the canal are operational and serving 228 thousand people across the municipalities in the Alto Sertão region. The water is also utilized to irrigate crops in rural areas.