The Tâmega (; cel-x-proto, Tamaca) or Támega () is a river in

Galicia, Spain Galicia (; gl, Galicia or ; es, Galicia}; pt, Galiza) is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, it includes the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, a ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It begins its course near Verín, Galicia, Spain, and flows to Portugal in the provinces of Trás-os-Montes and

Douro Litoral Douro Litoral () is a historical province of Portugal. It is centered on the city of Porto, now the capital of the Norte Region. Other important cities in the province are Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Maia, Póvoa de Varzim, and the historic ...

. The Tâmega River is a tributary of the

Douro River The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

. From Verín, it flows south to Portuguese city of Chaves; then it flows through a fertile valley called the Veiga. Below Chaves the river narrows to pass through mountains and valleys. Owing to low water level and frequent small dams it is not navigable, passing through the cities of Amarante and Marco de Canaveses, flowing in the Douro River, near Entre-os-Rios: in fact Entre-os-Rios means between the rivers. The Tâmega is more important historically than economically. It has always served as an invasion route for foreign armies intent on reaching the richer southern lands of Portugal. The valley around Chaves has especially seen its share of battles and invading armies. Like many rivers, the Tâmega suffers from pollution and the ravages of sand and gravel extraction companies. The quality of the water has deteriorated greatly. Another problem is the periodic occurrence of flooding. Since the completion of the Torrão dam in 1988 less than 1 kilometre above the Douro river and the town of Entre-os-Rios in the municipality of Marco de Canaveses, the Tâmega has been recovering slowly from the effects of pollution. Sand extraction activities have been prohibited and many upstream cities installed modern sewage treatment plants. A new dam is planned between the city of Amarante and the town of

Mondim de Basto Mondim de Basto () is a municipality in the district of Vila Real in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 7,493, in an area of 172.08 km2. The present Mayor is Bruno Ferreira, elected by the psd Party. The municipal holiday is July 25. Pari ...

. Besides producing electricity, the project will have feature a flood control system that will divert the waterflow towards the smaller Olo River. A 220 MW pumped-storage hydroelectricity facility started operating in 2022, storing 40 GWh of electricity. It cost €1.5 billion. Three more turbines are scheduled for the site, bringing the storage power to 880 MW. The project also includes two

run-of-the-river hydroelectricity Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...

facilities.

Transport

The

Tâmega line The Tâmega line ''(Linha do Tâmega)'' was a railway line in northern Portugal. It closely followed the course of the Tâmega River. It closed in 2009. History The southern part of the line opened in 1909; it ran between Livração (the junct ...

, which closed in 2009, was a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railway line which closely followed the river.

References

External links

Rivers of Spain Rivers of Portugal Rivers of Galicia (Spain) International rivers of Europe Tributaries of the Douro River {{Portugal-river-stub

Transport

See also

References

External links