Abstract
The Vistula is the largest river in Poland. Lower Vistula (part of the river discussed in this paper) is almost four hundred kilometers long river section extending from the tributary Narew to the outflow to the Baltic Sea. In the 17th century the Vistula was the most navigable river in Europe. After partitioning of Poland the Vistula lost its significance. Now the Lower Vistula should provide a navigation connection to the Europe forming water routes E70 and E40. However it does not meet the criteria required for the international waterways. Moreover, the river has a quite large hydro-energy potential. There have been many plans for the development of the Lower Vistula River so far. Unfortunately none of them has been implemented. In this paper, the authors would like to present their own arguments to reactivate the Lower Vistula Cascade (LVC) project. In order to analyse the LVC idea and Lower Vistula hydraulic potential, a numerical hydraulic model of the Lower Vistula was developed at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering of Gdansk University of Technology. Various aspects of the LVC concept, such a potential inland waterways, hydropower, flood control and water retention, are discussed in the article.
Highlights
The Vistula River is one of great European rivers
The average discharge in its mouth to Baltic Sea is estimated as equal to 1080 m3s-1, whereas the total annual outflow of waters coming from the atmospheric precipitations and introduced by Vistula to sea is approximately equal to 34 km3
The construction of Lower Vistula Cascade (LVC), in the variant presented in this paper, means the creation of nine new retention reservoirs, which combined with the proper control of water stages during the passage of flood waves will give a significant effect of reducing the culmination of the wave and reduce the flood risk in the Vistula valley
Summary
The Vistula River is one of great European rivers. Its length is 1047 km. For many reasons the most interesting for economical use of the Vistula River is its Lower part of length equal about 400 km, called the Lower Vistula. It is considered from Warsaw cross section to the Gulf of. After the end of the 2nd World War there was undertaken many times idea of exploitation of the Lower Vistula River This idea was dealing with construction of a cascade of dams and reservoirs. At the present time the question of economic use of the lower Vistula River became important because intensively developed the Port of Gdansk, located at the mouth of Vistula River, will soon need additional connection in the form of waterway with the center of Poland. Various aspects of the concept, such creation of the potential inland waterway, hydropower, flood control and water retention, are discussed in the article
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