CORRAL

SPAIN (see also List of Individuals)

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28.2.1907 Santander/E -.. 1990 Madrid/E

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Santiago Corral graduated as a civil engineer in 1929 and he obtained also a doctorate in laws. He eventually took interest in dam engineering and was associated with the leading Spanish construction companies. He became a Board Member and later the managing director of Saltos del Nansa Combine generating, transmitting and selling electric energy from its hydropower plants on the River Nansa in Asturias. Corral together with a colleague founded the engineering design office Ideam, which was initially oriented towards the damage reconstruction of infrastructure during the Spanish Civil War. In 1950 the La Cohilla Arch Dam was erected and shortly later the San Esteban Dam, a 120 m high gravity arch dam on the Sil River. Corral collaborated then with Joaquim Laginha Serafim (1921-1994) on the creation of Consulpresa, a dam consulting company where he acted as vice-chairman and where he participated in Tecniberia as Consulpresa's representative.

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Spain has an old tradition in dam construction, starting in the Roman times of which two dams are currently still in use. The Roman design method was reinstated in the middle ages and led in Renaissance to the Alicante Dam in 1594, or the Tibi Dam in 1589 which with 46 m height set a record not broken until the 19th century. Spain's modern dam structures originate only from after 1950, however. In 1970, the total storage capacity of the Spanish dams rose to 37,000 hm3, with an average increase of some 2,000 hm3 per year. Currently, 98% of the total capacity is stored within 300 dams whose individual capacity is larger than 10 hm3. Private dams are concentrated in the North of Spain whereas the public dams are mostly found in the South. Spain is actually the European country that adds most new dams, given the water shortage mainly along the Mediterranean, with large agricultural reaches and intensive tourism. Of particular note are the dam schemes along Spain's large rivers, particularly along the Duero River in the West, and the Ebre River in the East.

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_{Anonymous (1992). The heritage of Spanish dams. Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos: Madrid.}

_{Castro-Orgaz, O. (2007). Santiago Corral y Pérez. Personal communication.}

_{Sáenz Ridruejo, F. (2006). Dam engineers in Spain. Dams in Spain: 422. Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos: Madrid. P}

_{Schnitter, N.J. (1994). A history of dams: The useful pyramids. Balkema: Rotterdam.}