Narva Reservoir ( et, Narva veehoidla, russian: На́рвское водохрани́лище) is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

Narva River The river Narva ( et, Narva jõgi; russian: Нарва), formerly also Narova flows north into the Baltic Sea and is the largest Estonian river by discharge. A similar length of land far to the south, together with it and a much longer interme ...

, shared by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. The reservoir was constructed during 1955–1956, during the

Soviet era The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...

. It provides water to Narva Hydroelectric Station (installed capacity 125 MW, located on the Russian side and owned by the power company

TGC-1 TGC-1 (also referred as TGK-1; full name: Territorial generating company number 1; , ''Territorial’naya generiruyushchaya kompaniya No 1''; traded as ) is a regional power company operating in North-West Russia. The company has its headquarters ...

) and cooling water to the Estonian

Narva Power Plants The Narva Power Plants ( et, Narva Elektrijaamad) are a power generation complex in and near Narva in Estonia, near the border with Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The complex consists of the world's two largest oil shale-fired thermal power plants, ...

. Its surface area at normal headwater level of is , of which belongs to Estonia. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is .''Our Waters: Joining Hands Across Borders : First Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters'', by

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and i ...

, Rainer Enderlein, Published by '' United Nations Publications'', 2007,
p. 237
/ref> The overall water exchange rate is high (about 30 times year), with some almost stagnant areas. The ecological status is estimated as "good" (as of 2007).

References

Baltic Klint Reservoirs in Russia Reservoirs in Estonia Reservoirs in Leningrad Oblast International lakes of Europe Estonia–Russia border RNarva Reservoirs built in the Soviet Union {{estonia-geo-stub