FLOOD OPERATION OF THE DAMS OF THE MIDDLE TAJO BASIN DURING DECEMBER 1995-JANUARY 1996. SPAIN

摘要

Between December 1995 and January 1996, a significant flood took place in the middle and lower basins of the Tajo river which include, respectively areas of Spam and Portugal. This fact ended the prolonged drought that had taken place in the Spanish Peninsula since the beginning of the decade- as a consequence of this, the reservoirs of the Spanish area had a storage equivalent to 46 % of their total capacity -which equals to 6 400 hm~3-, and therefore existed a wide range of operation of these infrastructures against floods. The criteria that were taken into account were to consider the security of the dams as well as the potential risks that existed downstream both in Spain and Portugal. So the flood operation of the Spanish dams was realized in close contact with the Portuguese authorities and made it possible to reduce the maximum flows between 70 and 80 %; at the same time more than fifty percent of the volume of the flood was kept in the Spanish dams permitting an efficient protection of the inhabited areas situated downstream.