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Reservoir of El Vellón

Pedrezuela, Cuenca del Medio Jarama, Madrid

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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Reservoir of El Vellón

Nature · Pedrezuela, Cuenca del Medio Jarama, Madrid

Completed in 1967 on the Guadalix river for the Canal de Isabel II, it holds back 41 cubic hectometres over 393 hectares behind a double-curvature dam 218 metres long at the crest and 50 metres high, and supplies water to Madrid. It was the first thick double-curvature arch dam used by the Canal de Isabel II, tested at the Engineering laboratory in Lisbon, achieving a saving of almost half the concrete compared with a gravity dam. From the reservoir runs the El Vellón canal, which draws water from a three-tier intake tower and carries it to El Atazar. Despite its name, the dam lies outside the municipality of El Vellón, in Pedrezuela: nearby, the old Molino del Vellón was submerged, where the residents of that village used to go to grind their grain.

Photo: Calima (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Pedrezuela