The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development signed an order requiring the Urrá hydroelectric plant to reduce its maximum quota from 130.5 to 128.5 meters above sea level. The measure addresses operations conducted amid a climate emergency in Córdoba. The ministry also demands recalculation of volumes, accounting for the buffer void and climate change scenarios.
On February 19, 2026, Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Irene Vélez Torres signed an administrative order targeting the Urrá hydroelectric plant. The document mandates an immediate reduction in the reservoir's operating quota, from 130.5 meters to 128.5 meters above sea level. Vélez stated that the action stems from operational measures taken by the plant during the climate emergency and increased rainfall in Córdoba, aimed at avoiding issues similar to those experienced earlier in the area.
"We have made a requirement to Urrá that has two moments for its fulfillment. The first moment is immediate, in which we are telling it that it must lower the quota from 130.5 meters where it is at this moment to 128.5 meters. This derives from all the operations it has carried out in the framework of the contingency," the minister explained.
Furthermore, the order requires Urrá to recalculate its maximum operating volumes, incorporating the buffer void. Vélez stressed that multipurpose dams like Urrá must not only generate electricity but also manage regional hydrology. "What we are telling it is to calculate exactly what it must leave as void to fulfill its water regulation purpose. It must do that immediately," she added.
The hydroelectric plant has one month from notification to conduct studies including analysis of 500-year rainfall return periods and climate change scenarios. Vélez noted that this update acknowledges the new reality of climate variability and its effects on environmental control instruments.
Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry has two ongoing sanctioning processes against Urrá: CT 11731 of 2025, for alleged violations of maximum volumes in 2024; and CT 00995 of 2025, for breaches in 2025 and January 2026, including failure to activate emergency conditions in Córdoba. Ministry data indicate that from 2020 to 2024, Urrá exceeded the maximum curve on 384 days, in 2025 on 73 days (20% of the year), and in the last four months on 27% of days.
