Prague, Feb 29 (CTK) – The Czech government will have a study worked out on the feasibility of building four new dams with water reservoirs to help in the periods of drought, the ministers decided at the cabinet meeting on Monday, complying with the Agriculture Ministry’s proposal.
About 20 years usually elapse from the initial plan until a dam’s completion. That is why the preparations must start already now, the ministry suggested.
The new dams may be built on the Zdobnice River in Pecin, east Bohemia, on the Vlara River in Vlachovice, south Moravia, and on the Rakovnicky and Kolesovicky streams near Senomaty and Senov, respectively, both central Bohemia.
The water reservoirs would help secure water supplies during the periods of droughts.
“The cabinet continues to solve the problem of drought systematically. We approved another step on Monday, a plan for the construction of four retention water reservoirs in three regions,” Sobotka has written on Twitter.
Apart from helping tackle droughts, the Pecin dam might help protect the settlements along the Zdobnice River from floods.
The Vlachovice dam, for its part, would help supply the region with drinking water.
The other two smaller dams would enhance the underground water in the given localities and also provide necessary water to farmers.
“It must be emphasised that the projects are no traditional dams but quite small water reservoirs with a capacity of a medium-size pond,” Agriculture Minister Marian Jurecka (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) said.
The Senomaty reservoir, if filled with water, would have a surface area of 25.6 hectares, and the Sanov reservoir even 22.2 hectares. Compared with this, the area of the Macha Lake (popular recreation area in north Bohemia) is some 280 hectares,” Jurecka said.
He said feasibility studies will be worked out on the basis of which a definitive decision on the projects will be made.
Last July, the government approved a plan to make the use of water more effective. The document outlines over 50 tasks for ministries and other offices to fulfil, and also an increase in the fees for drawing underground water.
