Oldest operational dam
- Who
- Proserpina Dam
- What
- c. 1900 years year(s)
- Where
- Spain (Merida)
- When
- first century AD/second century AD
The world’s oldest working dam is the Proserpina Dam near Merida in Spain. Constructed by the Romans around the late first century AD into the second century AD, the dam originally provided water via a 10 km aqueduct to the Roman colony of Emerita August (present day Merida). Using the gravity-dam construction system, it is made of earth covered with brick, measures 427 m long, 21.6 m high, and is 2.3 m thick at the top. It was refurbished by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Guadiana (Water Management Administration) in 1991.