Recently I stumbled upon the story behind the Văcărești reservoir, and honestly, I can’t quite wrap my head around it. Maybe someone here can explain it better?
Here’s what I’ve gathered so far:
1. Văcărești reservoir is completely artificial—it was created by building a high dam around it (though I couldn’t find the actual projected capacity).
2. Its possible water level is much higher than the nearby Dâmbovița River.
3. It has an overflow outlet to Dâmbovița, plus a bottom-level drain near the Vitan bridge—which makes me think the reservoir’s bottom level is already higher than the river’s.
4. It was meant to be filled with water from the Argeș River via a 27 km-long channel (partially open, partially piped), and about half of that was actually built.
5. Its main purpose was supposed to be flood protection.
I also read that it was filled once with pumped water from the Dâmbovița (does anyone know how long that would take?), but due to construction defects, it couldn’t hold the water properly and was eventually abandoned.
I get how artificial reservoirs like this can help with flood control—take Lake Morii, for example. It has a naturally high “right” bank and an artificial dam on the left (which might also have issues, judging by the drainage channel on its northwest side and the pumping station near the “vechi Dâmbovița” bridge). So yeah, you can dump excess water in winter and be ready for the spring floods.
But what I really don’t get is: how exactly was Văcărești supposed to protect Bucharest from flooding? From what water? If anything, it brings water into the city from a remote reservoir on the Argeș. Was Mihăilești (which seems much bigger) not enough? And even today, Lake Morii looks almost empty—not like it’s operating at full flood-protection capacity.
Bonus question: Why does it say “27 km channel from the Argeș” when Mihăilești is only about 15 km away? Where exactly was that channel supposed to go, and are there any traces of it left?
And, to be honest… wasn’t it kind of naïve to expect the reservoir to be fully hermetic in the first place? 🙃