With its spooky, grey ruins, a ghost community that has developed as drought has nearly emptied a dam on the Spanish-Portuguese border is attracting hundreds of tourists.
When Spain’s Galicia region’s Aceredo town was flooded to create the Alto Lindoso reservoir in 1992, facts of a life locked in time were disclosed for the first time.
“It’s as if I’m watching a movie. I have a feeling of sadness,” Maximino Perez Romero, a 65-year-old pensioner from A Coruna, said.
“My feeling is that this is what will happen over the years due to drought and all that, with climate change.”
In some areas, visitors could see partially collapsed roofs, bricks and wooden debris that formerly built up doors or beams, and even a rusty drinking fountain with water still running from a rusty pipe.
Several crates of empty beer bottles sat near a decrepit cafe, while a rusting old car was perched on a stone wall. Drone footage revealed abandoned buildings.
Ms Maria del Carmen Yanez, mayor of the larger Lobios municipality, of which Aceredo is a part, blamed the situation on a lack of rain in recent months, particularly in January, as well as what she described as “quite aggressive exploitation” by EDP, the reservoir’s manager.
Due to the growing drought, the Portuguese government ordered six dams, including Alto Lindoso, to practically suspend water consumption for energy production and irrigation on February 1.
When contacted by Reuters, EDP claimed that the low reservoir levels were due to the drought, but that it was managing water resources “efficiently” and that these, including Alto Lindoso, were over the minimal needs.
Reservoirs have long been questioned for their long-term viability.
Following Iberdrola’s quick draw-down from a lake in western Spain last year, several Spanish villages complained about how power utilities exploited them. The firm stated that it was abiding by the rules.
According to data from the Environment Ministry, Spain’s reservoirs are at 44% full, significantly below the average of 61% over the last decade but still higher than levels seen during a drought in 2018.
According to a ministry source, drought indicators indicated a potential worsening in the coming weeks, but that there was no evidence of a widespread problem across the country.
When Mr. Jose Alvarez, a former construction worker from Lobios, recalled his working days in Aceredo, he felt a mixture of nostalgia and fatalism.
“It’s terrible, but it is what it is. That’s life. Some die and others live,” he said.
Source: Reuters
Image Credit: AFP
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