At the Conchos Dam in Portugal, visitors are treated to an amazing sight during flood season. As the dam overflows, water is drained into a funnel-like waterfall within the artificial lake.
Named Covão do Conchos, the strange, almost otherworldly cascading cavity is an example of a ‘bell-mouth spillway’.
A spillway is a structure within a dam used to divert water to a downstream area. In this case, a 1.5km tunnel, so that the water doesn’t spill over the top of the dam and damage it.
The water usually only flows into the spillway during flood periods, meaning this spectacle can only be seen for a short time every year.
