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Reservoir of Bárcena

Congosto, El Bierzo, León

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Reservoir of Bárcena

Nature · Congosto, El Bierzo, León

Image of Congosto, not of the place itself.

The Bárcena reservoir, built between 1955 and its entry into service in 1961, dams the river Sil between Santa Marina del Sil and Ponferrada, next to the boundary with Congosto, whose Peñas de la Riestra, rising above eleven hundred metres, overlook its shores. Its construction meant evacuating the villages of Bárcena del Río and Posada del Río, whose 500 residents were resettled in the newly built village of Bárcena del Bierzo. The waters also flooded the bridge of Roman origin, heir to the Via Nova, which linked Cubillos del Sil with Congosto along the Camino Real de Galicia. With a capacity of 341 cubic hectometres, the reservoir is used for hydroelectric power generation, cooling the Compostilla II thermal power plant, and irrigation of the Bierzo Bajo.

Photo: Teillu (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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