The Solina Lake

The Solina Lake is an artificial reservoir created as a result of partition the San River by the dam. The dam is the largest hydro-technical building in Poland, it has 82 m height and 664 m length. It was built between 1960 and 1968. Before the reservoir was constructed, people from the villages of Solina, Teleśnica Sanna, Horodek, Sokole, Chrewt and Wołkowyja had been displaced. Buildings and Orthodox churches were destroyed, forests were grubbed up and cemeteries were exhumed. Filling the reservoir to the current water level, which stays approximately at an altitude of 410 m took one year. The purposes of creation the reservoir were to prevent floods, retention, recreational function and energy production. The lake has two characteristic branches – longer one, which goes along the San River (about 27 km length) and shorter one along the Solinka River (14 km length), which gets to San River nearby the dam. Lake Solińskie has an area of 22 km² and the largest water capacity in Poland – approx. 500 mln³. The coastline is about 120 km long and the average depth is about 20 m, the deepest place is just at the dam itself as it is about 60 m. Lake Solińskie has four islands: Skalista (also called The Large), Zajęcza (also called the Little), Energetyka and Okresowa, which emerges only where the water level is low. In the waters of the reservoir is a large variety of fish. We can find here mainly perch-pikes, basses, carps, white amurs but also specimens of asps, breams and roaches. A lot of private accommodations, guesthouses and holiday farms were created by the Lake.