The San Roque Lake is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

(artificial lake) in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Córdoba,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It was created by the

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

ming of several rivers, especially the Suquía and the Cosquín. It is located next to the city of

Villa Carlos Paz Villa Carlos Paz () is a city in the center-north of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, in the south of the Punilla Valley, lying on the western slope of the Sierras Chicas. It has a population of about 56,000 as per the . The area of Punilla is ...

, about 600 m

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It has a surface area of 16 km², an average depth of 16 m, and a maximum volume of 180 million m³. The dam was initially built to provide fresh water for the capital and its surroundings. It was designed in 1884 by the engineering firm of Cassaffousth, Bialet Massé and Dumesnil, finished in 1886, and inaugurated officially in 1890. Two years later the dam was suffering from a complete lack of maintenance, however, and a political scandal erupted. The original dam was finally replaced by a newer one, located 150 m away, by an initiative of Governor

Amadeo Sabattini Amadeo Tomás Sabattini (May 29, 1892 – February 29, 1960) was an Argentine politician. He served as Governor of Córdoba from May 17, 1936, to May 17, 1940. Sabattini was born in Buenos Aires to immigrant parents: His mother was Uruguayan, ...

, and completed in 1944. The newer dam was built to contain and control larger rises in water levels. When the engineers tried to demolish the original dam, the dynamite only blew the metal railing. The new dam was therefore built several meters in front of the old one. When the level of the lake is low, the upper part of the old construction can be seen.

References

''Lago San Roque''
at the website of the

National Atomic Energy Commission The National Atomic Energy Commission ( es, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, CNEA) is the Argentine government agency in charge of nuclear energy research and development. The agency was created on May 31, 1950, with the mission of deve ...

Municipality of Bialet Massé
— ''¡El dique se viene!'' (history of the dam) {{Authority control Dams in Argentina Reservoirs in Argentina Landforms of Córdoba Province, Argentina Dams completed in 1944