The Rialb Reservoir is located in Catalonia. This reservoir is fed by the Segre, Rialb, and Ribera Salada rivers.
The lake extends through the northwest of the Noguera region in the municipalities of Ponts, La Baronia de Rialb, and Tiurana, and to a lesser extent through Basella, Peramola, and Oliana, in the northernmost part of Alt Urgell. It particularly affects the municipality of La Baronia de Rialb, which gives its name to the reservoir.
The dam has a height of 99 meters and construction began in 1992, a few kilometers downstream from the Oliana reservoir.
Rialb began to fill in 1999 and was inaugurated in the year 2000. The construction involved an investment of 40,000 million pesetas and has a capacity of 402.8 cubic hectometers, that is, four times that of Oliana.
Although the reservoir was inaugurated in 2000, and after eleven years of filling, it did not reach its maximum level until April 2010. While the impact of the construction of the infrastructure was very significant – both in terms of landscape and environmental impact – in June 2008, a consortium was created to coordinate the tourist promotion and economic development of the municipalities affected by it.
