Vallforners Reservoir

The Vallforners reservoir is a Spanish hydraulic infrastructure built in the Cánoves stream, within the municipality of Cánoves, in the Vallés Oriental region, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia. It is located in the Montseny massif, between the Ombradors and Palestrins mountains. Downstream is the town of Cánoves. Upstream, the La Calma plain, in the Montseny natural park. The culminating point of the valley is the Puig de Sui, with 1322 m of altitude. The reservoir belongs to the municipality of Cánoves, in the Vallés Oriental region. It was built between 1985 and 1989 and its special feature is the fact that it was the first reservoir in Catalonia with a stone dam and compacted earth. It has a width of 10 m at the crest, with an impermeable clay core. The dam has been used to raise a small hill on which trees have been planted.

It is formed by a belt of mountains, hills and serrados from the so-called Pla de la Calma to Cuch, among which we can highlight Roca Centella, Mojó, Turó Monner, Puig del Sui (with 1322 m. altitude), Turó de Cuch (where the termini of Cánoves, Tagamanent, Montseny and San Pedro de Vilamajor face each other), and the Sierra de los Vallestrins, in the center of which stands the farmhouse of Vallforners, half fortress, half forest house, on the way of the Pla de la Calma, built by Señor de Tagamanent and restored by his son, Dalmau de Rocabertí, from the family of the counts of Peralada, in 1610.

The reservoir is 1.1 km long, with a capacity of 2.3 hm³, capable of irrigating up to 500 hectares of crops and supplying water to the extraordinary consumption of Cánoves and Cardedeu. Nearby is the Can Cuc chestnut tree, a monumental tree with a diameter of 14 m and a height of 15 m. Inside it is said that a charcoal burner once lived. The reservoir can store 2,300,000 m³ of water, which allows it to irrigate 500 ha. of crops, and even, extraordinary consumption of the populations of Cánoves and Cardedeu. For this reason, the municipalities of the two towns are part of the Irrigation Community.