Ogosta Reservoir

Ogosta lake Язовир Огоста
Location	Montana
Coordinates	43°22′31″N 23°10′56″E
Lake type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Ogosta, Burzia and Zlatitsa rivers
Catchment area	948 km²
Basin countries	Bulgaria
Surface area	2360 ha

Ogosta (Bulgarian: Язовир Огоста) is a lake in the North West of Bulgaria. It is the second largest artificial lake in Bulgaria and The Balkan Peninsula and one of the biggest in Europe. It collects the waters of the rivers Ogosta, Burzia and Zlatitsa and is located about 600 meters to the south-west of the border of Montana city and 60 m. above the level of the city. The water collecting basin is with area of 948 km² and the area of the lake itself is 24 hectares. The average water volume is 384 Mm³ and the overall volume 506Mm³.

The construction of the lake took 20 years and was completed in 1986. For its construction two villages were flooded (Jivovtsi and Kalimanitsa) and their inhabitants relocated to Berkovitsa and Montana.

This hydro-technical outfit was erected for the purpose of irrigation of large areas of agricultural land situated from Montana to Zlatia (near Lom), but until 1989 only half of the pipe infrastructure was developed and it was never completed.

Now days the waters of the lake are not used for irrigation, but for electricity production in two hydro-electric power-stations: “Kosharnik” and “Ogosta” situated by the dam.

In 1999 the lake was designated for commercial fishing. The diversity of fish is significant: carp, carassius, rudd, carp bream, European perch, common nase and barbus.

References

• Translated from Огоста (язовир) in the Bulgarian Wikipedia.