By Jennifer Popplewell • Published: 12 Jan 2024 • 22:56
The church standing tall on dry land Credit: Facebook
The dreaded drought through the country of Spain has caused many disastrous effects throughout the nation.
However, one small positive that has come from the crisis, is the reemergence of a sunken 11th century church in the Spanish village of Sant Roma de Sau. Due to extremely low levels of water, the historical building has recently emerged from the waters of a reservoir.
What are being labelled as ‘drought tourists’ are now visiting from far and wide to see the 11th-century church, which was submerged 60 years ago.
The church and surrounding houses were flooded 60 years ago to form the Sau reservoir, which provides essential water supplies to the city of Barcelona.
Usually, it is merely the top of the church’s three-storey tower that usually pokes up above the surface. However, now the entire 11th-century building stands firmly on dry land and has started to attract curious spectators.
“It’s unbelievable how much the water level has gone down,” stated local man Sergio Iberico who visits the reservoir often. Adding that: “I remember paddling here and the water level was at the window of the church tower.”
In January 2023 the water levels of the reservoir were at 19 per cent, which was worrying as the average for the month is usually above 90 per cent. However, current water levels in January 2024 at the Sau reservoir are at just 6 per cent of capacity, a stark reminder of the crisis Spain currently faces.
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Jennifer is a proud northerner from Sheffield, England, who is currently living in Spain. She loves swimming in rivers, talking to the stars and eating luxurious chocolate.
Southern Spain will become a waste land within 5 years.
No water means a outflow of people and already property prices in the south have dropped 35% in a year.
WoW this article really brings home the drought problem there and a really good read on the lakes history with fascinating picture of church now or the one before not very comforting but a wonderful opportunity to history reappear We have had drowned villages here in Wales one very near to my birthplace in Kenfig Glamorgan always intrigued us as kids when cycling the area so can quite understand the new publicity
Stunning. Love this stuff…..not the drought though..!!!
Drought drought drought but they are still building thousands of holiday homes and continue to build golf courses and yet there is a very serious problem relating to water supply. It is about time the Spanish government put a moratorium on holiday home building until they sort out the water supply issue but as it is Spain no action will be taken, unbelievable.
Articles like this fail to mention southern Spain’s agriculture is unsustainable (eg mango, lettuce, avocado) which is responsible for a vast amount of water usage. Coupled with some of the highest losses of getting water to end users (60 to 70%) . Yes global warming is a thing and we haven’t had much rain, but parts of Spain have a semi arid climate classification (BSk Köppen-Geiger). I’m not surprised there isn’t enough water given the excess water usage.
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