The Lindoso reservoir, on the border between Spain and Portugal, submerged the town of Aceredo in Galicia in 1992.
It was on January 8 of that year that the Portuguese hydroelectric company EDP, which manages the dam, proceeded to fill the reservoir lake.
That day Aceredo was frozen in time and a whole way of life for its inhabitants came to an end.
Three decades later, a severe drought has nearly drained the lake, exposing the remains of flooded homes.
It is a moving landscape, spectacular and desolate at the same time, which currently attracts hundreds of tourists, both Spanish and Portuguese.
“We came from Vigo, we saw the emerged town and decided to stop to see it. We had seen something on television, but seeing it ‘in situ’ is impressive,” a visitor told the Efe news agency.
For others, however, the emerged town is a sight that causes sorrow.
“It’s like I’m watching a movie. I have a feeling of sadness,” Maximino Pérez Romero told Reuters. “My feeling is that this is what will happen over the years because of the drought and all that, with climate change.”
José Álvarez, a former bricklayer from Lobios, said he felt a mixture of nostalgia and fatalism as he recalled his days working in Aceredo. “It’s terrible, but it is what it is. That’s life. Some die and others live,” Álvarez told Reuters.
“They spoke very well to us and we decided to come. It is worth seeing, it is as if you were in a lunar landscape. But the people who had to leave are also very sad, they had to have a very bad time,” said Maribel Paz, another visitor, to Eph.
The residents of the closest areas who knew what happened with Aceredo are critical of the transformation that occurred in Galicia due to the reservoirs.
“This is a disaster, it reflects how they emptied the reservoir in a savage way. I am very sorry for the plundering they did with the reservoirs,” Francisco, a resident of Xinzo de Limia (Ourense), told the EFE agency.
María del Carmen Yáñez, mayor of the main municipality of Lobios, of which Aceredo is a member, blamed the situation on the lack of rain in recent months, particularly in January, but also on what she described as “quite aggressive exploitation” by the of the EDP hydroelectric plant.
On February 1, the Portuguese government ordered six dams, including Lindoso, to almost stop using water for electricity production and irrigation, due to a worsening drought.
EDP had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.
Questions about the sustainability of reservoirs are not new.
Last year, several Spanish towns complained about public service companies for extracting water from lakes.
Data from the Environment Ministry shows that Spain’s reservoirs are at 44% of their capacity, well below the average of around 61% over the last decade, but still above levels recorded in a 2018 drought.
A ministry source said drought indicators show a possible worsening in the coming weeks, but have yet to detect a widespread problem across the country.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-60389663, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-02-16 09:20:05
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