The Artikutza reservoir in Navarra has remained empty despite the rains. His destiny is another: the demolition

The rains of recent months have caused many of the reservoirs of the Peninsula to go from practically dry due to drought to recover flows more typical of normality. That is not the case of the Artikutza reservoir, a Navarrese reservoir located near the border between the Foral Community and Gipuzkoa.

The reason is that the Artikutza reservoir is a dead reservoir, and its prey, as we know it, has the days counted.

Green light to demolition (partial). The San Sebastián City Council It is prepared For the partial demolition of the Artikutza dam as reported by local authorities. The infrastructure, in disuse for more than 20 years will be measured so that the so -called Enobieta regatta, whose flow retained the prey leads to the Añarbe River without having to cross the infrastructure pipes. The works are expected to begin in 2026.

Wasn’t we in Navarra? According to He tells Iñigo GarcíaCouncilor for the Environment of the Donostiarra Consistory, to Efeverdethe history of the Artikutza reservoir begins in 1919, when the City Council bought some land next to the population of Artikutza, in the north of Navarra in order to build a reservoir that supplied water to the coastal municipality.

The dam never was fully filled: in 1948, geological problems were detected that limited the filling capacity of the reservoir to approximately half of the planned volume. In spite of this, the reservoir was the main source of water supply of the Guipuzcoan capital between 1960 and 1976, when downstream entered into the service of the Añarbe reservoir, of a much higher volume to face the population growth of the city.

A spoiled dam. In 1992 the reservoir stopped supplying water to the municipality of Donostia, but its final decline would begin ten years later, in 2002. This year, a failure in the electrical maneuver Reservoir coffin.

Reservoir that would end emptying more than a decade laterbetween 2017 and 2019. A duct in the lower part of the dam allows the small regato to flow with hardly any restrictions, but the new project seeks to further facilitate the transit of the river and avoid risks derived from the accumulation of sediments.

A partial demolition. We indicated at the beginning that the demolition of the dam would be partial and not total. The Donostiarra Consistory considered three demolition options: the total demolition, the partial and the possibility of maintaining the current channeling to maintain an open passage.

Finally, the decision was favorable to the partial demolition, which implies the opening of the dam through a vertical cleft of seven meters wide below one of the old reliefs of the dam. This would allow recovering the natural flow of the river avoiding at the same time A cumbersome work in a protected natural environment and complex access.

Protect fauna. Now the question fits, and all this for what? The possibility of leaving things as they were was on the table. However, it was considered that the opening of the dam was an ideal way of guaranteeing biological connectivity without the risk that the accumulation of sediments will hinder the passage of water and animals.

There are several species whose conservation has been influenced when explaining the ecological impact of the project. The first is The Iberian Desman (Pyrenaicus Galemys)an animal that also receives the nickname of the “Spanish ornitorrinco”. This animal is one of the most threatened mammal species of our environment and has a small population in this hydrographic basin. The authorities also highlight the existence of “Bat populations of much biological interest” that inhabit the interior of the dam.

In Xataka | “Thank you so much, reservoirs.net”: Spanish men are developing a peculiar obsession with swamps

Image | Ksarasola / Eider Palmou