Rawa River
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The Rawa (pronounced: ; older name ''Roździanka'') is a minor
river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
(about 19.6 kilometres in total length) in
Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
.http://www.bspnews.kiss.pl/bspnews/991/991-34.htm#RAWA Rawa River Project It is the largest right
tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the Brynica, itself a tributary of the Przemsza, which in turn is a tributary of the
Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...
. The entire length of the Rawa is within the
Metropolis GZM The Metropolis GZM (, formally in Polish (Upper Silesian-Dąbrowa Basin Metropolis)) is a metropolitan association () composed of 41 contiguous gminas, with a total population of over 2 million, covering most of the Katowice metropolitan area i ...
. It has its source in Ruda Śląska and crosses the cities of Świętochłowice, Chorzów and
Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
. Finally in Sosnowiec it joins the Brynica River only several hundred metres before the latter joins with the Czarna Przemsza. The Rawa has lost most of its natural river character, and is now mostly a
sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...
channel flowing underground. Works have begun to restore it to an ecologically sound water flow. Green Determination of the Silesia Region


Characteristics

The river has a source in the Marcin pond in Ruda Śląska. It flows through Świętochłowice, Chorzów,
Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
, Mysłowice and finally Sosnowiec where it joins Brynica just before the latter joins with Czarna Przemsza. During much of its route it flows underground, beneath the city's infrastructure. It is filled by rain, as well as sewage. It has several small confluences, such as Potok Leśny (near University of Economics in Katowice).


Pollution

The river is notorious for being heavily polluted. Reported to be crystal clear in 1875, the
industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...
of
Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
caused the river to become so polluted that all the fish died out by 1893. The continued growth of industry and cities throughout the 20th century, combined with little effort towards preserving the environment, continued to degrade the quality of the water in the river. In 1992, the river, leaving Katowice, was claimed to contain only 14% water, and a popular joke among the local citizens was to warn each other 'not to throw a lit match into the river'. Currently the upper part of the river is officially classified as sewage and the plan is to direct the entire river flow through a treatment plant. In the 1990s plans to improve water quality and restore the ecology of the river were begun. So far new sewage treatment plants have been completed, and the plan is supposed to significantly improve the river's quality by 2010.


Regulation of flow

The primary reason for the regulation of the Rava's flow was the need to prevent flooding as
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
continued to lower the level of local lands. The first plans for controlling the flow date to 1863. Plans to regulate the entire length of the Rawa were ready in 1903. The start of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
interrupted Prussian government implementation. After the war, the German plans were continued by the government of the
Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...
in the late 1920s, with the construction of a sewage treatment plant (no longer existing). The work was completed in 1938, but the correct flow conditions did not last because of the continued lowering of the land. The second regulation of the river was conducted between 1975 and 1993.


Name

Sources first mention the river in 1737, as ''Róździanka'' - from an old village of Roździeń, now part of Katowice's district of Szopienice. The etymology of the name "Rawa" (Rava) is ancient. The name is related to Indo-European etymological dictionary
/ref> Protoindoeuropean: *er w)-, *rē(w)- (meaning quiet); Germanic: *rḗw-ō, *rṓw-ō, *rōw-a- (Old English: rōw, -e `quiet, rest'; Middle Dutch: rouwe, rowe; Middle Low German: rouwe, rōwe; rāwe; Old High German: ruowa (AD 800), rāwa (9th century); Middle High German: ruowe, ruo, rāwe, rouwe, German Ruhe).


References


External links

*{{in lang, pl}
Rawa będzie odkryta?
Rivers of Poland Rivers of Silesian Voivodeship