Arrocampo Reservoir

Arrocampo Reservoir (Embalse de Arrocampo)

Arrocampo reservoir dam
Location Almaraz, Romangordo, Saucedilla, Serrejón
Coordinates 39°49′N 05°42′W / 39.817°N 5.700°W / 39.817; -5.700Coordinates: 39°49′N 05°42′W / 39.817°N 5.700°W / 39.817; -5.700
Type reservoir
Managing agency Iberdrola, Endesa
Built 1976
Surface area 776 ha

(This article is a summary translation of Spanish article Embalse de Arrocampo of Wikipedia (es))

The Arrocampo Reservoir,[1] (embalse de Arrocampo or embalse de Arrocampo-Almaraz in Spanish), is located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain.

It was created at 1976 to refrigerate the turbines of the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant. The nearest municipalities are Almaraz, Romangordo, Saucedilla and Serrejón. The dam is on the Arrocampo River (arroyo Arrocampo), very close to where this little river joins the Tagus.

The Arrocampo reservoir as system to refrigerate the Almaraz Nuclear Plant

Water circulation in Arrocampo reservoir

The refrigeration of the Almaraz nuclear power plant was the first reason for the construction of the reservoir.
The water is taken from the Tagus and cover a U-shaped circuit of 25 km which allows the cooling of the heat generated by the two nuclear reactors of the plant. (See the illustration of the water circulation in Arrocampo) (...) The walls of thermic separation (pantallas de separación térmica in Spanish) (PST) are 11 km long and 8 m high (...). The tops of these walls are used by great cormorants and great egret as standing, resting and sleeping areas.

The Arrocampo reservoir as a wetland

Arrocampo reservoir

-Phytoplankton and zooplankton (...)

Angling is often practiced on weekend and feast days. There are sometimes a lot of recreational fishermen at the principal access to the reservoir, near the local route Almaraz-Saucedilla.

-Carps
-Common barbel
-Tench (Tinca tinca)

The grey heron can be watched in Arrocampo

-Gambusia
-Largemouth bass or black bass: this species is very common and the size is often spectacular.
-European eel ...


Before the creation of Arrocampo reservoir (1976), there were a lot of wild birds in lands of Almaraz, Saucedilla. White storks, cattle egrets, lesser kestrels ... are traditional birds of this area. Now there are two special protection areas: one is the parish church of Saucedilla (17 couples of lesser kestrels on its walls and roofs) and the other one is all the Arrocampo reservoir.

Gallery

The Arrocampo reservoir as a Special Protection Area (SPA) for wild birds[2]

Information office of Arrocampo reservoir Special Protection Area at Saucedilla
Lesser kestrel, protected in the walls and roofs of Saucedilla church
Cattle egret, very common in Arrocampo
Great cormorant
Little egret
Grey heron
Purple swamphen: perhaps the symbol bird of Arrocampo reservoir

The Arrocampo ornithologic park (Saucedilla)


The Arrocampo ornithologic park is located in the municipality of Saucedilla, near the reservoir. It was designed by the ornithologist Javier Briz.

References

  1. ↑ El embalse de Arrocampo, 1996, Ed. Central Nuclear de Almaraz. This book is the basic reference of this article.
  2. ↑ Birding in Extremadura, Ed. Junta de Extremadura

Bibliography

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, June 30, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.