Seč Dam ( cs, Sečská přehrada) is an artificial

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

reservoir located in

Pardubice Region Pardubice Region ( cs, Pardubický kraj; , ; pl, Kraj pardubicki) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located mainly in the eastern part of its historical region of Bohemia, with a small part in northwestern Moravia. It ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It supplies cities of

Pardubice Pardubice (; german: Pardubitz) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 89,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monu ...

and

Chrudim Chrudim () is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. It is the second largest town of the region. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Admin ...

and is also an important tourist destination located in protected area

Iron Mountains The Iron Mountains are a mountain range, subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These mountains are located around the common meeting point of Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. A portion of the Appalachian Trail runs the crest of the Iron ...

. The dam has also regulatory function and its water is used in some water

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

Location

Seč

Dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

is the largest dam in the Iron Mountains Protected Landscape Area. It is located on river

Chrudimka Chrudimka is a river in the Pardubice Region in the Czech Republic. It is a left tributary of Labe, beginning near Hlinsko and flowing mostly northward to the city of Pardubice Pardubice (; german: Pardubitz) is a city in the Czech Republic. It ...

in a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

close to the town of the same name, about 20 kilometers from Chrudim and 25 kilometers from Pardubice. The reservoir is approx. 7 kilometers long and is situated at 490 meters above the sea level.

History

The dam was constructed between 1925 and 1934 as a protection against

floods A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

. As a result of the construction, 22 buildings were depopulated and flooded. Remains of some of them are popular destination for

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

. A small power plant was constructed between 1941 and 1946. In 1947 another smaller reservoir was constructed approx 1 km from the main reservoir and it is called Seč II.

Biosystem

The environmentally most valuable part of Seč are Ostrůvek and the Oheb peninsula, which consists of a steep rock that ends with a small rocky promontory covered with pines. This place is a home to some rare

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

species (

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

beetles Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

) as well as a natural habitat of

Eurasian eagle-owl The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') is a species of eagle-owl that resides in much of Palearctic, Eurasia. It is also called the Uhu and it is occasionally abbreviated to just the eagle-owl in Europe. It is one of the largest species of owl, ...

s. The forest that covers the Oheb rock consists of some very old species of

European beech ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though mor ...

es. Dead trees are left to decay and become hosts for a wide range of

polypore Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside (see Delimitation for exceptions). They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypor ...

s that feed on their dead wood.

Tourism

The reservoir and its surroundings are the main tourist attraction of the Iron Mounrain Region. It is used for recreational purposes and water sports.

Ecology

Oheb and Ostrůvek are protected natural areas threatened by tourists that visit these sites. Another ecological issue is the

wastewater Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industr ...

from surrounding villages and recreational objects that contaminates the reservoir. It does not represent a direct risk to the people who swim in the water but it causes

algal bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompas ...

. In some cases, large areas of green "tufts" can be observed. This was originally believed to be caused by

manure Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nutri ...

washed down from the fields close to the reservoir, but results of recent researches proved that

fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts typ ...

compounds from manure are insoluble in water so it cannot be the primary cause. The algal bloom season on Seč may start as soon as in June and gets worse when there's lack of

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

which reduces the water flow. It is recommended to have a shower after swimming in the water or avoid entering the water when the situations worsens.

Gallery

Ostrůvek.jpg, Ostrůvek Oheb.JPG, The Oheb rock (view from the reservoir) Oheb2.jpg, Oheb Oheb3.jpg, Oheb Oheb4.jpg, The Oheb rock and peninsula Ustupky.jpg, Ústupky LakeSec.jpg, The reservoir (view towards the tributary)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sec Dam Dams in the Czech Republic Dams completed in 1934 Chrudim District 1934 establishments in Czechoslovakia