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The Cardener River valley is becoming drier. The tragic appearance of the Sant Ponç reservoir is the best reflection of how the landscape is changing without rain. The reservoir is dying with each day that passes without precipitation, as can be seen in the Photos of the Readers of La Vanguardia.
The swamp of Sant Ponç is a reservoir located in the middle valley of the Cardener river, created by a dam located in the municipality of Clariana de Cardener, which extends through the borders of this town, Olius and Navès, in the region of Solsonès, not far from the border with Bages.
This reservoir is part of the group of reservoirs in the Llobregat river basin. To build it, the gorge formed by the Cardener was used at the site of the Sant Ponç hermitage, which was submerged, although its ruins can now be seen again.
The Sant Ponç reservoir has a capacity of 24.4 hm³, although it is now much lower, a length of 5.8 km and a total area of 144.5 ha.
The water from Sant Ponç played a very important role in extinguishing the great forest fire that ravaged the counties of Solsonès, Bages, Anoia and Segarra on July 18, 1998 and that razed some 27,000 hectares of central Catalonia.
