Geografie 1967, 72, 333-341
Transfers of Water from Watershed to Watershed
The increased water demand in certain localities requires in many instances the transfer of water from one watershed to another one. According to the National Water Management Plan, the territory of Czechoslovakia is divided into 35 main watersheds. More than 50 transfers between them have already been realised and another 35 are now being designed and prepared. The transfers as such can be divided into the following categories: 1. Uncontrollable groundwater passages 2. Mine drainage waters 3. For navigation purposes 4. For mining works 5. For water supply of inhabitants 6. For industrial enterprises 7. For the feeding of ponds 8. Pumping of waste waters into the adjoining watershed 9. Construction of group collectors of waste waters and constructions of sewers with outfalls in the sea 10. Disposal of saline mine drainage water from the Odra watershed into the Danube 11. Supply mains for hydroelectric power plants 12. Backpumping of water in the watershed of the same river 13. River discharges changed by regulation operations. In the following part there is a survey of single water transfers from watershed to watershed, both of the completed ones and of those which are in the stage of preparation. Of greater significance among these transfers in our country are four transfers from the watershed of one ocean to that of another one. All other transfers have been realised within the watershed of one main river or sea, respectively. The quantity of water transferred between watersheds amounts, in the majority of cases, to hundreds of liters per second, and there are (for water power generation] even cu m/sec. The future foresees even tens of cu m/sec. As can be seen, the completed and especially the planned transfers can change radically both the quantitative and qualitative conditions in rivers. Qualitative changes are achieved mainly by the fact that not only river water, but also groundwater, drinking water, service water, navigation water and especially waste waters are used for this purpose.
