Povodí Vltavy

POVODÍ VLTAVY,
STATE ENTERPRISE

The Povodí Vltavy (Vltava River Basin) is an organization that manages and maintains the watercourses in the entire basin of the Vltava River. It manages a total of nearly 22,000 kilometers of watercourses in this area.
The Horní Vltava Branch manages the flow from the border with Germany and Austria to the Orlík Dam. It manages the conditions for drawing surface water for industry and as well as potable water treatment. It also manages dams, reservoirs, weirs, flood control dams, watercourse modifications, and other engineering works owned by the state.
In South Bohemia, the Povodí Vltavy state enterprise manages nine reservoirs (VN) built on major rivers (on the Vltava River: VN Lipno I, VN Lipno II, VN Hněvkovice; on the Malše River: VN Římov; on the Blanice River: VN Husinec; on the Stropnice River: VN Humenice; on the Černá River: VN Soběnov; on Studenská Creek: VN Karhov and VN Zhejral), as well as another twenty reservoirs built on smaller rivers. It also manages 153 weirs and a series of flood control structures. In addition, it also manages the Vltava waterway with its navigation objects (the locks České Vrbné, Hluboká nad Vltavou, Hněvkovice, Hněvkovický weir, and Kořensko), the České Vrbné protective harbor, and several marinas.

The most prominent water reservoir is the Lipno I reservoir, also known as Lake Lipno or the South Bohemian Sea. The reservoir's large retention (protective) space contributes significantly to the influence of flood conditions and enables for the prevention of flood damage. It has also become a characteristic South Bohemian site for relaxation and sports.
Another major reservoir is Římov, which serves as a drinking water reservoir for large parts of southern and parts of central Bohemia. The Husinec reservoir on the river Blanice is also worth mention – its dam is interesting as a display of engineering as the last masonry dam in the country.

One interesting purpose of the Hněvkovice reservoir is that provides enough cooling water for the Temelín nuclear power plant.
The weirs feature an interesting design
in the technical monument of Loučovice (Huber-Lutz), a hydrostatic weir on the Vltava. The cylindrical weir in Písek on the Otava River
is also interesting in its design, in that it forms the substructure of a road bridge whose supports are built on the pillars of the weir.

The Povodí Vltavy state enterprise also ties its activities in to the works of our ancient ancestors, to the works of Jakub Krčín
of Jelčany, who built the Nová Ŕeka waterway to connect the rivers Lužnice and Nežárka. Part of this project, grandiose for its time, were the Novořecké levees and the Novořecké water diverting structures. After the floods of 2002, both of these structures were restored, and
a trail was built for hikers and bicyclists along the ridge of the Novořecké levee.

The Povodí Vltavy state enterprise also reconstructed a covered wooden bridge
in the village of Plav, built in 1895–1896
as a technical structure to capture floating wood. After reconstruction in 2007, the structure was declared a cultural monument