El Cuchillo Reservoir (La Charca)

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Industrial architecture · Year: 1928 · Authors: Juan Galán Herrera

Located on the land known as El Cuchillo, in the middle course of the Bufadero ravine, this dam was requested from the Cabildo in 1922 by several owners of the surrounding lands with the aim of obtaining sufficient water throughout the year for irrigating their fields.

The project for this reservoir was drafted by engineer Juan Galán Herrera and was approved in April 1927. The work to complete the dam finished the following year.

This hydraulic infrastructure, 17 metres high, 69 metres long and covering 12,004 square metres, can store up to 106,000 cubic metres of water flowing through a 6.25 square kilometre basin formed by the Crispín and Brosque valleys.  
Popularly known as “La Charca”, this small reservoir is set amid a spectacular landscape defined by the steep mountainous slopes of this part of Anaga, here covered by magnificent groups of cardones.

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