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Catalan Water Agency Approves Dismantling of Colomers Dam Annexes

The project, valued at over 865,000 euros, involves removing old housing and service buildings from a 1960s infrastructure that never became operational.

Generic image of an abandoned dam and auxiliary buildings.
IA

Generic image of an abandoned dam and auxiliary buildings.

The Catalan Water Agency (ACA) has approved the project to dismantle the old housing and service buildings adjacent to the Colomers dam, a hydraulic infrastructure built in the 1960s on the left bank of the Ter river.

The plan, with a budget of 865,361.72 euros, focuses on removing the auxiliary buildings and the Sentmenat canal, but its execution is not imminent. The first step will be the processing of affected assets and rights, including temporary occupations to access the canal and prepare the ground for future dismantling.
This action does not affect the main dam, for which no final decision has been made. Any intervention on the structure would require prior inundation studies and analyses of impacts on existing services. The approved project marks the end of the auxiliary complex of an infrastructure conceived to expand irrigation in the Baix Ter region, but which never achieved its objective.
The processing involves a temporary occupation of 27,666 square meters, without definitive expropriations planned. The initial valuation of these assets and rights is estimated at 60,965.96 euros, a figure that may vary. This procedure is essential to ensure safe access to the area and to carry out the removal of obsolete elements.
The six auxiliary buildings, constructed in 1970, housed engineers and technicians. Over time, they became vacant and are now in poor condition. The project includes the removal of these dwellings, a warehouse, the SICAT building, a water tank, lighting, service lines, a well, and a septic tank. The transformer station will remain operational.
The irrigation canal is also included. The one on the left bank reaches the Rec del Molí, but it never entered service either. This action does not affect the historical irrigation system of the Baix Ter, but rather a component that remained outside the main system.
The Colomers dam, built between 1964 and 1967, is approximately 103 meters long and six meters high. It was intended to divert water to expand irrigation, but the highly permeable ground conditions prevented it from becoming operational. The dam remains in the river without its intended use, while the historical weir and the Rec del Molí continue to function.
The ACA has considered future scenarios such as removing gates or lowering the weir, but these decisions are not part of the currently approved work and would require new studies. The project area borders the Riberes del Baix Ter, included in the Natura 2000 Network. If executed, the plan includes removing invasive vegetation and planting riparian species.
The resolution follows a public information period with no objections filed. The process to remove the most visible trace of a dam that never became operational now begins.

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