Poechos Reservoir is a middle-sized reservoir on Peru's Chira River in the border area between Peru and Ecuador. Its purpose is to improve the accumulation of water stocks in the upper part of Peru's Chira basin by flood control, irrigation, drainage and electricity generation. Location The Poechos Reservoir is situated in the northernmost part of Peru, in the lower flow of the rivers Chira and Piura, about 50 km north of Piura, the capital of the Piura Region. It is located on 4° 3' southern latitude and 80° 2' western longitude at an altitude of 98 m in the Lancones district of the province of Sullana, approximately 30 km from the border with Ecuador. History The system was built in support of agrarian reform and infrastructure policies led by the military dictatorship of Juan Velasco Alvarado. Construction was carried out in four phases, the first of which was constructed by Yugoslav contractor Energoprojekt and supervised by the Peruvian subsidiary of British company Binnie & Partners. Works started on 24 June 1972, with inauguration taking place on 4 June 1976. Phases of the project go as follow: Phase 1 (1970 to 1977) The first phase included the construction of the rock filled Poechos dam (9 km long with a maximum height of about 55 m and a total excavation volume of 9,000,000 m3; the diversion tunnel built into the bottom outlet with a maximum capacity of 14 m3/s; the concrete gravitational block of the overflow structure (400,000 m3 concrete) with radial gates with a total capacity up to , 500 m3/s; the safety overflow of circa 200 m length with a capacity up to 10,000 m3/s; the headwater discharge and the headwater channel with a capacity of 70 m3/s (8,00,000 m3 excavation and 1,000,000 m3 of concrete for channel lining); the channel drainage system in the lower Chira (10,000,000 m3 excavation in total) flows through over 1,000 structures on the channel network (overflows, outlets, gates, etc.) Phase 2 (1978 to 1985) The second phase covered the headwater dam Los Ejedos which is 220 m long with a maximum height of 20 m and a gate capacity of 3,000 m3/s; the main channel, which is 42 km long and has a capacity of 45 m3/s; the protecting embankments (60 km long) along the Piura; the channel system with supporting structures over an area of 350 km2. Phase 3 (1985 to 1997) The