Batak Reservoir

Batak Reservoir lies at an altitude of 1,108 m some 4 km west of the town of Batak and is named after the settlement. It is the source of the river Matnitsa, a right tributary of the Chepinska reka of the Maritsa river basin.{{harvnb|Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria|1980|pp=30–31}}{{cite web |url=https://rakitovo.bg/wps/portal/municipality-rakitovo/municipality/municipality.characteristics/natural.resources|title=Natural Resources|website=Official Site of Rakitovo Municipality|access-date=8 April 2025}} Administratively, it is in Batak Municipality of Pazardzhik Province. The main access is via the second class II-37 road from the east, as well as the third class III-376 road, which branches off the II-37 just west of Batak and continues west along the reservoir's southern shores to Tsigov Chark and then to the town of Rakitovo and eventually Velingrad some 24 km further west.{{cite web |url= https://www.api.bg/bg/1607347252.html |title=A Map of the Republican Road Network of Bulgaria|website=Official Site of the Road Infrastructure Agency|access-date=8 April 2025}}

The resort of Tsigov Chark offers year-round activities, including a ski track, hiking trails, fishing, various water sports, such as water wheel riding, boating, jet skiing, etc. In the northern part of the lake near the dam is the much smaller and tranquil resting area of Danoto, and about one kilometer northeast of the dam is the small resort of St Contantine, already in Peshtera Municipality.{{cite web |url=http://visitbatak.bg/map/%d1%8f%d0%b7%d0%be%d0%b2%d0%b8%d1%80-%d0%b1%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b0%d0%ba/|title=Tourism|website=Official Site of Batak Municipality|access-date=8 April 2025}}

Batak Reservoir was constructed in 1954–1959 and has two dams. The main one, located in the northernmost part of the artificial lake, is an earthen structure with a height of 35 m and a length of 273 m. There is a trench spillway with a capacity of 14 m³/s on the left bank and a main outlet in a tunnel with a capacity of 90 m³/s on the right bank. A counter dam has been erected in the western part of the reservoir with a height of 9.5 m and a length of 363 m. Batak Reservoir has a surface area of 24 km² and a volume of 310 million m³; it is 17 km at its longest and 4 km at its widest.{{harvnb|Nabatov|2011|pp=52–54}}{{cite web |url=http://www.batak.bg/index.php?page=natural_resources|title=Natural Resources|website=Official Site of Batak Municipality|access-date=8 April 2025}}

The reservoir is the main facility of the second level of the Batak Hydropower Cascade (254 MW) and is the most important leveling structure in the whole cascade. It receives the water from the first level of the cascade, after being discharged from the underground Batak Hydro Power Plant further upstream, as well as water from the tributaries of the Chepinska reka south of Velingrad, the tributaries of the Stara reka south of Batak, Peshtera and Bratsigovo, as well as some rivers from the Vacha basin further east. The total length of the derivation channels is 128 km, of which 51 km are tunnels. The water of the reservoir flows through a 3 km long pressure culvert to the underground Peshtera Hydro Power Plant downstream and then are utilized for the irrigation of about 450–500 km² of arable land in the Upper Thracian Plain.

File:Изглед към остров Голака от Цигов Чарк.jpg

File:Cigov chark2.jpg

File:Batak Reservoir 2012 02.JPG

File:Lake Batak (19693996916).jpg

{{Reflist|40em}}

• {{cite book | ref={{harvid|Encyclopaedia Bulgaria, Volume I|1978}}

| title = Енциклопедия България. Том I. А-В

| trans-title = Encyclopaedia Bulgaria. Volume I. A-V

| last = Георгиев (Georgiev)

| first = Владимир (Vladimir)

| others = и колектив

| year = 1978

| language = bg

| publisher = Издателство на БАН (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Press)

| location = София (Sofia)

}}

• {{cite book | ref={{harvid|Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria|1980}}

| title = Географски речник на България

| trans-title = Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria

| last1 = Мичев (Michev)

| first1 = Николай (Nikolay)

| last2 = Михайлов (Mihaylov)

| first2 = Цветко (Tsvetko)

| last3 = Вапцаров (Vaptsarov)

| first3 = Иван (Ivan)

| last4 = Кираджиев (Kiradzhiev)

| first4 = Светлин (Svetlin)

| chapter =

| year = 1980

| language = Bulgarian

| publisher = Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura)

| location = София (Sofia)

| isbn =

}}

• {{cite book | ref={{harvid|Nabatov|2011}}

| title = Електроенергетиката на България (Energy in Bulgaria)

| last1 = Набатов (Nabatov)

| first1 = Никита (Nikita)

| last2 =

| first2 =

| year = 2011

| language = bg

| publisher = Гея Либрис (Tangra TanNakRa)

| location = София (Sofia)

| isbn = 978-954-378-081-5

}}

{{Commons category|Batak Reservoir}}

• {{cite web |url= https://bulgariatravel.org/batak-dam-resort-town-of-batak/ |title= Official Tourist Portal of Bulgaria. Batak | language= English |accessdate=8 April 2025}}

{{Batak Hydropower Cascade}}

Category:Reservoirs in Bulgaria

Category:Landforms of Pazardzhik Province

Category:Rhodope Mountains