Ticha Reservoir (, ''yazovir Ticha'') is a reservoir in
Varbitsa Municipality,
Shumen Province
Shumen Province (, transliterated ''Oblast Shumen'', former name Shumen okrug) is a province in northeastern Bulgaria named after its main city Shumen. It is divided into ten municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 194,0 ...
, northeastern
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, located to the north and northeast of the town of
Varbitsa. It is one of the largest lakes of Bulgaria. The Ticha Dam is located in the northeastern part of the reservoir, in the southeastern part of
Kotel Mountain.
The reservoir lies along the Golyama Kamchia River, one of the two rivers that merge to form the
Kamchia.
Before entering the reservoir, the river gathers waters from the hilly
Gerlovo region.
The name of the reservoir is derived from the medieval name of the Kamchia: the Ticha.
According to some measurements, it is the third-largest reservoir in Bulgaria.
By design, the Ticha Reservoir is used mainly for
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
;
the total area which the reservoir can irrigate is .
The Ticha Reservoir's total volume amounts to .
The construction of the reservoir meant that two villages, Vinitsa and Staroselka, were depopulated and flooded; their commons now lie within the reservoir.
The dam overflowed in July 2005 and July 2010, threatening the surrounding villages and land. Due to this, the water level of the reservoir is closely monitored and
dykes have been built.
Unlike the 2005 flood, which caused significant damage in the village of
Byal Bryag, the 2010 overflow did not lead to floods in the neighbouring populated places.
In February 2010, the
tap water
Tap water (also known as running water, piped water or municipal water) is water supplied through a Tap (valve), tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used f ...
in
Shumen
Shumen (, also Romanization of Bulgarian, romanized as ''Shoumen'' or ''Šumen'', ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province.
Etymology
The city ...
, which comes from the Ticha Reservoir, was declared unsuitable for drinking as a result of the presence of ''
E. coli
''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escherichia'' that is commonly foun ...
'' strains.
References
{{Varbitsa
Reservoirs in Bulgaria
Landforms of Shumen Province