About Buendia Dam

Buendía reservoir is located in the province of Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha, on the Guadiela river, a tributary of the upper Tagus. Completed in 1958, the gravity dam holds 1,705 million cubic metres and, together with the neighbouring Entrepeñas reservoir, forms the system known as the 'Mar de Castilla' (Sea of Castile) — a vast expanse of water in the otherwise dry Castilian plateau. Buendía is famous in Spanish water politics as one of the two headwater reservoirs of the Tajo-Segura water transfer (Trasvase Tajo-Segura), a massive infrastructure project completed in 1979 that diverts water from the relatively water-rich upper Tagus to the arid southeast of Spain (Murcia, Alicante, Almería). The transfer is one of the most contentious water policy issues in Spain, with Castilla-La Mancha arguing that it depletes their water resources while the southeast depends on it for agriculture and drinking water. Buendía's water levels are therefore scrutinised not just for local water management but as a barometer of the ongoing political debate over inter-basin water transfers in Spain.