Alcantarilla Dam

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The Alcantarilla Dam was a Roman gravity dam in the province of Toledo, Castile -La Mancha ( Spain) from the 1st century AD The dam is likely since the Roman period in ruins. Similar development and construction also includes the Proserpina Dam in Mérida.

Location and construction

The dam took the river Guajaraz, a tributary of the Tagus, near the top in its course; and formed the upper part of the Roman water supply from Toledo. He had a length of 800 meters and the maximum height is estimated to be 15 to 20 meters. The building consisted of a mound -shaped mound of sandy clays and upstream of it lying at the base of about four feet thick dam. The dam had a Kalkbeton - core ( Opus caementitium ) and was covered on both sides with Masonry ( Opus incertum ) of varying thickness. It consisted mainly of the valley situated page of carefully hewn stone, and had no military as an overflow in times of high water Drang. The remains of two intake towers testify, however, that at least there, the water could flow in such times.

The cause of the dam failure that led to the destruction of the dam, is attributed to the small thickness of the dam, which could not withstand the lateral pressure of during a flood may be water-saturated earth structure.