Walking In Veseli
THE FETTERED RIVER
River regulation measures
Where flowing over flatter land, natural watercourses form so called meanders – by eroding the stream banks and depositing the material on the inside of the bends. They constantly change their shape and location. When viewed from above, the meandering stream has a “snaking” pattern. Straightening up a meandering river has been a popular flood prevention measure. As a result, the watercourses in the Czech Republic have been shortened by 4,600 kms in the past 150 years. The Morava River has also been affected.
Floods
Unusually high rainfall in July 1997 caused extensive flooding on all the rivers in the Morava (historical and administrative part of CZ) Region. The Morava River flooded also part of Veseli nad Moravou; Milokost was especially hard hit. Although there were no casualties, several hundreds of citizens had to be evacuated and the material damage was substantial.
Space for rivers
The Czech experience from large scale floods in 1997, 2002, and 2006 shows, that not even expensive technical flood prevention measures can guarantee complete safety. The river needs to be given space, so that it can self-regulate its flow, spreading the excess water into natural floodplains with very good water retention capacity in flood periods. Attempts to give rivers back their space have lately become part of water system restoration measures on smaller streams.
meander
cross-section of meander
Contact
Vzdělávací a informační středisko Bílé Karpaty, o.p.s.
Marie Petrů
Tel.:518 322 545
e-mail:visbk@bilekarpaty.cz
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