Reservoir Level in Portomarin in Sept. 2023

[Trekker One]

Having not hiked through Portomarin in the fall previously, I was shocked that the reservoir lake was down to a relative trickle when I passed by a couple of weeks ago.
First picture is from April of 2016, Second is from September this year.
Obviously not great For sailing!
Is lake level this seasonal?

 

[Bradypus]

Huge seasonal variation. Also depends on the rainfall over the year. This was what it looked like in late January this year.

 

[Trekker One]

This picture from the bridge heading into Portomarin again showing the huge drop in lake level.

 

[David Tallan]

When the level is low you can see the ruins of the original town.

 

[C clearly]

And when the level is low, the bridge feels much higher, so people with a fear of heights can have difficulty. When the level is high, the bridge feels much lower!

 

[Saint Mike II]

I agree the level of this reservoir can vary quite considerably. On my first crossing (also in September 2015) (so late in the summer) the water level was well down, you could almost see the remains of the old road bridge; In May/June 2017 the water level was almost at what I would estimate is "full". I suppose it just depends upon how much winter/spring snow runoff there was and how much irrigation was needed. Cheers

 

[JabbaPapa]

Huge seasonal variation. Also depends on the rainfall over the year. This was what it looked like in late January this year.
View attachment 158127

I crossed the old bridge on foot around 20th October last year.

 

[Kathar1na]

Having not hiked through Portomarin in the fall previously, I was shocked that the reservoir lake was down to a relative trickle when I passed by a couple of weeks ago. [...] Is lake level this seasonal?

It is indeed as seasonal as others have confirmed in reply to your question and as numerous photos illustrate. I knew about this and was excited when I passed through Portomarin a few years ago towards the end of October and discovered that I could actually walk onto the old bridge and stand in the middle of it - an eery feeling because at the time the water level was more or less equal to the walkway on the old bridge which has no guardrails ... you feel as if you are walking and standing on the surface of this vast water in this case ...

Your comment made me curious and I found the Belesar reservoir website with real-time data as well as data for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 and average data for the last 10 years:

Datos actualizados del embalse de Belesar.

El embalse de Belesar acumula 530 Hm3 (80.92%) -14 Hm3 MENOS que la semana anterior.

www.embalses.net

You write that you passed Portomarin a couple of weeks ago, i.e. in September 2023. I guess this means that you saw the river/reservoir area near Portomarin at a very low water level. At the beginning of August 2023, the mayor of Portomarin stated that at this point of the summer the level of the reservoir is quite low, so that you can already see the houses of the old Portomarín and the old bridge which had been used for crossing the river Miño until some 60 years ago. However, he also pointed out that the water level in August 2023 was not yet as low as last year when something unheard of ("cosa sin nombre") occurred, i.e. the water level was lower than ever before during the past six decades.

I guess we could take bets whether it will take another 60 years before the water level of the reservoir/river near Portomarín gets as low as in 2022 and 2021 or whether this becomes a more frequent occurrence.

 

[JohnLutz]

It is indeed as seasonal as others have confirmed in reply to your question and as numerous photos illustrate. I knew about this and was excited when I passed through Portomarin a few years ago towards the end of October and discovered that I could actually walk onto the old bridge and stand in the middle of it - an eery feeling because at the time the water level was more or less equal to the walkway on the old bridge which has no guardrails ... you feel as if you are walking and standing on the surface of this vast water in this case ...

Your comment made me curious and I found the Belesar reservoir website with real-time data as well as data for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 and average data for the last 10 years:

Datos actualizados del embalse de Belesar.

El embalse de Belesar acumula 530 Hm3 (80.92%) -14 Hm3 MENOS que la semana anterior.

www.embalses.net

You write that you passed Portomarin a couple of weeks ago, i.e. in September 2023. I guess this means that you saw the river/reservoir area near Portomarin at a very low water level. At the beginning of August 2023, the mayor of Portomarin stated that at this point of the summer the level of the reservoir is quite low, so that you can already see the houses of the old Portomarín and the old bridge which had been used for crossing the river Miño until some 60 years ago. However, he also pointed out that the water level in August 2023 was not yet as low as last year when something unheard of ("cosa sin nombre") occurred, i.e. the water level was lower than ever before during the past six decades.

I guess we could take bets whether it will take another 60 years before the water level of the reservoir/river near Portomarín gets as low as in 2022 and 2021 or whether this becomes a more frequent occurrence.

I wonder if the culprit is the climate crisis.

 

[JabbaPapa]

However, he also pointed out that the water level in August 2023 was not yet as low as last year when something unheard of ("cosa sin nombre") occurred, i.e. the water level was lower than ever before during the past six decades.

Yes -- when I crossed in October last year, the water level was incredibly low, it looked like lower even than would have been normal prior to the building of the dam -- in that parts below the natural river bank were stone dry.

Locals, even older ones, were commenting that they had never seen the like !! (this image is embiggable BTW)

 

[C clearly]

I wonder if the culprit is the climate crisis.

Why "culprit"? This is what the dam and reservoir were designed to do - collect water during the wet season, storing it for human use during other seasons. The fact is that there are clear seasonal variations. Whether these variations are becoming more extreme is another question. The 50-60 years of data for this reservoir, would be a small piece of information.

 

[Grahammac]

Irrigation below the dam is the main cause of the drop.

 

[Keith H]

I look forward to seeing it in a couple weeks. Now I’m curious

 

[JabbaPapa]

I look forward to seeing it in a couple weeks. Now I’m curious

Just remember to take the right-hand option for the descent to the bridge. Your knees will thank you later.

There's a cool bar in the pueblo just before that crossroads too !!

 

[Richard Smith]

Pic from 18 October 2016, shows old bridge and maybe the high water mark on new bridge.

 

[ShoshTrvls]

August 10-11, 2023.

 

[SFHoneybee]

Having not hiked through Portomarin in the fall previously, I was shocked that the reservoir lake was down to a relative trickle when I passed by a couple of weeks ago.
First picture is from April of 2016, Second is from September this year.
Obviously not great For sailing!
Is lake level this seasonal?

I’m here today— it’s really, really compared to April… but Rain is expected—pretty much all this week

 

[timr]

On a slight side issue.
I am not a sailor of any kind and generally wary of boats smaller than the Titanic.
But looking at @JabbaPapa's picture, there must be a time when the water level is going down that the lake becomes un-navigable along its length because the old bridge must get in the way?

And on a different side issue. The first time I passed through Portomarin was in 2009 and there was no mains running water anyhwere in the (new) town, which seemed a bit ironic because its existence is due to the dam which I presume supplies water - (though conceivably not to the town). [In fact I guess it doesn't supply water to the town, as there would be none when the dam is low??] I remember going down with a group to wash and swim in the reservoir!

A tractor had damaged a pipe somewhere. The water came back around midnight.