The Church of Mediano stands as a ruin of Spain’s dam-building legacy. During the Franco era, an ambitious water policy led to a proliferation of these structures nationwide. This period saw tension between visions of how and for what purpose water should be used: to power the growing electrical demands of a modernizing Spain or to nourish fields and sustain agriculture? Dams and reservoirs became symbols of progress and modernity, grandly inaugurated by the regime. Yet, behind these massive hydraulic structures lie stories of displacement, of submerged towns like Mediano, and lives forever altered. Spain’s water reservoirs, currently accounting for the most prominent dams in the European Union, are a testament to these complex narratives of progress, displacement, and ecological considerations. In the photograph, the Church of Mediano, built in the XVI century and normally inundated, emerges entirely from the water. The village of Mediano was flooded in 1969, and now, particularly during times of drought, the church’s appearance prompts reflections on the balance between human ambition and nature’s resilience. Mediano, August 2023.