Caldas Novas
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| Caldas Novas | |
|---|---|
| State | Goiás |
| Area: | 1,588 km² |
| Population: | 65,637 (IBGE 2005) |
| Elevation: | 625 m above sea level |
| Postcode (CEP): | 75690-000 |
| Became a city: | 1911 |
| Distance to Goiânia: | 170 km. |
| Website: | Prefeitura de Caldas Novas |
Caldas Novas is a Brazilian city and municipality in the state of Goiás. It is the largest hydro-thermal resort in the world and the largest producer of mangos in the state.
Contents |
[edit] Demographics
- Population density in 2003: 36.18 inhab/km²
- Population growth rate 1991/2000: 8,34.%
- Urban population in 2003: 55,376
- Rural population in 2003: 2,140
- Population change: the population has grown from 11,000 in 1980 to over 65,000 in 2006.
[edit] Political Information
- Eligible voters in 2004: 39,226
- City government in 2005: mayor (Magda Mofatto Hon), vice-mayor (Silvânia Fernandes e Silva), and 10 councilmembers
[edit] Location
It is located 170 km south of state capital, Goiânia, with good roads linking to that city. Highway connections are made by BR-352 / Bela Vista de Goiás / GO-147 / Piracanjuba / GO-217 / GO-139 / GO-213. See [1] for a complete list of all distances in Goiás
Caldas belongs to the Meia Ponte Microregion, which has 305,427 inhabitants in 21 cities and a total area of 21,229.00 km².
Neighboring municipalities are:
- North: Santa Cruz de Goiás and Piracanjuba
- South: Corumbaíba
- East: Ipameri
- West: Rio Quente and Morrinhos
Caldas Novas is known throughout Brazil as the largest hydrothermal resort in the world, with water that reaches the surface at temperatures that vary from 20 to 58 °C.
[edit] Economy
The main source of income of the municipality is tourism. In the high season the city receives as many as 100,000 tourists and at carnaval as many as 300,000 people. Almost two thousand people are employed in this sector. The infrastructure of the city has more than 80 hotels and pensions (12,000 beds) (many with heated swimming pools and all with hot water produced by the natural thermal system), chalets, clubs, nightclubs, bars and restaurants.
Sectors of employment
- agriculture and cattle raising: 13 units with 65 workers
- extractive industries: 34 units with 94 workers
- transformation industries: 168 units with 601 workers
- construction: 93 units with 946 workers
- commerce: 1,576 units with 1,981 workers
- hotels and restaurants: 197 units with 1,815 workers
- transport, storage and communications: 88 units with 512 workers
- real estate activities, rents and services provided to companies: 376 units with 1,816 workers
- public administration, defense, and social security: 1,245 workers
- education: 346 workers
- health: 330 workers
Gross Domestic Product
-
- 343.7 million Reais (166.02 million U.S. dollars on May 5,2006) in 2002
GDP per capita
- R$6,480 in 2003 (3,131 U.S. dollars on May 5, 2006)
Main animal products in 2004:
- cattle: 89,780
- dairy cows: 14,963
- milk production: 17.8 million liters a year
- swine: 8,348
- poultry: 36,109
Main agricultural products in 2004
- cotton: 4.37 km² producing 1,311 tons
- rice: 6 km² producing 960 tons
- oranges: 2 km² producing 5,376 tons
- mangos: 0.54 km² producing 1,100 tons (the largest in the state)
- corn: 43.1 km² producing 26,515 tons (02 crops)
- soybeans: 156 km² producing 42,120 tons
- sorghum: 17 km² producing 6,120 tons
- Financial Institutions in 2005: Banco do Brasil S.A. - Bradesco S.A. - Banco Itaú S.A. - CEF - HSBC Bank Brasil S.A. -Banco Multiplo
- Dairies: Laticínios Serina Ltda.; - Coop. M. dos Prod. de Leite de Morrinhos Ltda.
- Retail establishmentsin 2005: 956
- Restaurants and hotels in 2003: 197
[edit] Motor vehicles
- automobiles and pickup trucks: 8,319 (2004)
- trucks: 450
- motorcycles: 4,265
[edit] Health and education
- health establishments: 22 (10 private) (2002)
- hospitals: 04 (03 private)
- hospital beds: 131
- doctors, nurses, dentists (public): 119 / 0 / 11
- infant mortality in 2000: 21.55
- pre-primary school enrollment, schools: 965 / 18 (17 private)
- primary school enrollment, schools: 11,482 / 38 (17 private)
- middle school enrollment, schools: 2,233 / 08 (04 private)
- higher education: 969 students / 02 (private)
(2004) Faculdade de Caldas Novas - UNICALDAS - Faculdade Sete de Setembro - FSS - Unidade Universitária da UEG
- literacy rate in 2000: 92.5
[edit] High quality of life
Caldas Novas is one of the best places to live in the state of Goiás. In the United Nations Human Development Index Caldas Novas had a rating of 0.802,which ranked it 10 out of a total of 242 municipalities in the state of Goiás. Nationally it was ranked 533 out of 5,507 municipalities. For the complete list see [2]
[edit] Information about the hot water of Caldas Novas
In Caldas Novas there are 86 active wells, pumping an average of 1,200 m³ an hour, in a period of 14 daily hours. The temperature of the water varies between 34 and 57 °C.
The first references to the hot water of this region were published in Spain in 1545. In 1722, Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva, son of the famous bandeirante, Anhangüera, turning off the trail blazed by his father years before, discovered the thermal springs that form the Rio Quente. These were called Caldas Velhas and were located in the place where the Rio Quente Resorts is now located.
The most important study about the thermalism of Caldas Novas and the Rio Quente was carried ot by the state enterprise Furnas Centrais Elétricas, due to the possible influence of the Usina Hidrelétrica Corumbá I dam on the thermal watertable of the region, which would be under the risk of cooling. According to Furnas, the phenomenon of the hot water is produced by peculiar geological and topographic characteristics. For years it was thought that a volcano had existed in the area in whose crater rainwater infiltrated, heating at great depths and then returning to the surface by way of cracks in the rock. More modern studies show that there is no indication of volcanic activity in the region, this theory reinforced by the elliptical form of the Serra de Caldas shown in a satellite photo [3] Studies show that the water is formed by rainfall that is stored in a layer of quartzite and due to pressure is sent to the surface in a column 600 meters.
See Rio Quente.com
The suspicion that the cold water of the reservoir of Usina Corumbá I could infiltrate the thermal watertable of Caldas Novas and Rio Quente has no basis, since the waters of the lake are at an elevation of 595 meters, well below the source of the water, at 644 meters.
Another great attraction of Caldas Novas is Ecotourism, since the city is located near the Corumbá River and the Serra de Caldas where there is a natural park - Parque Estadual de Caldas Novas. In the surrounding area there is a lake - Lago de Piratininga - with boiling water; a reservoir called Lago de Corumbá with 64 square kilometers damming the Corumbá; and another river - the Rio Quente - which has natural warm water.
[edit] Rio Quente
One of the largest hotwater resort complexes in the world - Rio Quente Resorts - is located 20 kilometers to the west of Caldas in the municipality of Rio Quente. With seven hotels, a convention center, and 500 square kilometres of space it receives more than 1 million tourists a year.
One of the most popular attractions is the Hot Park, the only aquatic park in the world with natural hot water.
In addition you can visit the Parque das Fontes, a complex of 8 swimming pools with running water, which is located near the source of the hot water.
