Rules Dam & Reservoir
Vélez de Banaudalla - Granada - Andalucía - Spain

The Rules Dam is located on the river Guadalfeo, downstream from its confluence with the Izbor river, in the municipality of Vélez de Benaudalla and collects the water from the southern slopes of Sierra Nevada mountain range, from Sierra de Lújar and from La Contraviesa.

The Guadalfeo and its network of tributaries draining the territorial unity of La Alpujarra, located in the southeastern of the Granada province.

The Guadalfeo river rise in Sierra Nevada, in the Sierra of Los Bérchules, in the Lomas de las Albardas and its formed with the joyning of Rio Grande and Rio Chico. Downstream is supplied from several tributaries including the Trevélez river, the Poqueira, the Órgiva river, the Lanjarón and the Torrente stream. Its runs through the outskirst of towns such as Órgiva, Bérchules, Cádiar, Almegíjar, Torvizcón, etc.

Purpose

The Rules Dam on the Guadalfeo river come to complete and guarantee the objetives and demands of the Béznar reservoir. These objetives are:

- Protection against flooding from the Guadalfeo lower valley and his rich delta
- Supply the coast population (approx. 250.000 inhabitants)
- Irrigation of 5.000 hectares

Features

The reservoir basin has an area of 1.070 km2, has an average annual rainfall of 600 mm and an average annual contribution of 150 hm3.

The type of the dam is Gravity Arch, arc of 500 m of radius and has a coronation lenght of 531 m.

The reservoir has a surface area of 345 hectares and a capacity of 117 Hm3.

In the landscape of the basin, we can highlight the Loma de los Términos, Los Arales, El Arrecife, La Colorada, El Barranco del Muerto, Sierra de Lújar, La Contraviesa, etc.