Beauty Hidden in Deep Waters...

In the High Tatra mountains alone, there are around 175 tarns – small lakes formed by past glacier activity. The largest of them is Veľké Hincovo pleso covering an area of 20 hectares. At 53 metres deep it is the deepest tarn in Slovakia. Other popular tarns in the Tatras include Štrbské pleso, Popradské pleso, Skalnaté pleso, Zbojnícke pleso, Velické pleso, Žabie and others.

There is only one tarn in the Low Tatras – Vrbické pleso, which is just 4 metres deep. The famous Morské oko mountain lake is located in the Vihorlatské hills and Jezerské pleso can be found in Spišská Magura mountain range. Besides their aesthetic value and hydrological significance of regulating the outlet of surface waters from the alpine areas, tarns in the Tatras play an important role in water management because they serve as reservoirs of high quality drinking water.

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Hot summer moments attract many tourists to the Senecké lakes in western Slovakia and Zlaté piesky lake in Bratislava.

Apart from natural reservoirs, Slovakia also boasts many man-made dikes – dams, fishponds and mining dikes – tajch. The largest number of dikes is situated on the longest Slovak river The Váh – Liptovská Mara near Liptovský Mikuláš or Sĺňava near Piešťany, which are very popular summer tourist resorts. Oravská priehrada in the north of the country, Zemplínska Šírava and Domaša on the River Ondava in the east of Slovakia are also among the larger and more popular dikes.

The most significant from the point of view of energy generation are Gabčíkovo dam and Dobšiná and Ružín dams.

The largest fishponds include the National Nature Reserve of Senné rybníky fishponds – one of the most important ornithological locations in Central Europe – and Hrnovské rybníky fishponds located in the Protected Landscape Area of Slovenský Kras biosphere reservation.

Mining dikes found around Banská Štiavnica are truly unique. They were built in the 18th and 19th century and their water was used to drive mining pumps. Many of them have been preserved to this day: Počúvadlo, Kolpašské, Richňavské and Hodrušské reservoirs, Vindšachta, Evička, Klinger, etc. Nowadays, the mining dikes are used mainly for sports and recreation.

Slovakia is considered one of the most significant countries in the world in terms of the number and yield of mineral springs. Currently 1626 springs are registered here.

By Beata Pašková
Photo: iStockPhoto

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