Draft:Lake Spina

Lake Spina is an artificial lake located at 288 meters above sea level in the municipality of  Pralormo province of Turin.

Description
The reservoir, created for irrigation purposes, has a surface area of 0.16 km². The dam, made of earth and loose materials, measures 20 meters in height, 6 meters in width at the crown, and 190 meters in length.The lake belongs to the hydrographic basin of Rioverde (a tributary of the Banna) and it receives the waters of Rio Torto and Rissarasco, which were once channeled through a masonry tunnel no longer in use. The municipal center of Pralormo is  located approximately 1.5 km northwest of the water body. The lake and the surrounding woods represent a precious environmental heritage for the surrounding territory.

History
The lake takes name by the sanctuary of the same name. The lake was built in 1827; the clients of the works were the count Conte Carlo Bernardi of Pralormo and the Marquis Carlo Emanuele Ferrero of the Marmora, and the work was declared of public utility with the Lettere Patenti by Carlo Alberto in 28 august 1827.The direction of the work was committed to the hydraulic engineer Cavaliere Barabino, who made an important work not only for the dimensions but also for the ingenious irrigation mechanism of which endowed the flooded. In fact, Barabino made an irrigation system that, through a float, gathered only the most superficial and productive water and it avoided to cut the dyke every time it was necessary to irrigate. After the flood of 1994 and the damaged of the dyke in beaten earth, the level of the water basin was kept lower than in the past and the surface area of the reservoir has consequently been reduced particularly in its south-eastern portion.A commissioner was appointed to secure the reservoir : work on the constructions of the outflow organs, the consolidation of the dyke body and the reopening of the adduction tunnels began in december 2008, with completion scheduled for 2010.

Traditions
Pralormo's community celebrates the Madonna of the Spina on the occasion of the solemnity of the Assumption and San Donato, with a procession that begins at Lake Spina and ends at the homonymous Santuario (sanctuary) with the celebration of the Holy Mass. Among the numerous votive offerings housed in the Sanctuary, a plaque installed on January 1, 1995, commemorates the narrowly averted danger of the collapse of the dam at the lake during the November 1994 flood.