Lago di Poschiavo is a natural

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the Val di Poschiavo in the Swiss

canton of Graubünden The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label= Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Surmiran, (Cant ...

Geography

It has an elevation is , a length of , a surface area of and a maximum depth of . The lake is both fed and drained by the

Poschiavino river Poschiavino is an long river that rises in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and flows into the Italian province of Sondrio. The majority of the river is in Switzerland, with just in Italy. The source of the river lies at above sea level in the ...

and drains to the south, with its water eventually reaching the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

via the rivers Adda and Po. The lake lies within the

municipality of Poschiavo Poschiavo ( it, Poschiavo, lmo, Pusciaaf, german: Puschlav, rm, Puschlav) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Bernina Region in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Grisons in Switzerland. History Poschiavo is first mentio ...

, and the villages of

Le Prese Le Prese is a village in the Val Poschiavo in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It lies at above sea level at the northern end of Lago di Poschiavo, and is in the municipality of Poschiavo, some south of the village of the same name. The P ...

and

Miralago Miralago is a village in the Val Poschiavo in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It lies at above sea level at the southern end of Lago di Poschiavo, and the Poschiavino river flows out of the lake in the village. The village is some sou ...

lie at its northern and southern ends respectively. The

Bernina railway line The Bernina Railway (german: Berninalinie; it, Linea del Bernina; rm, Lingia dal Bernina) is a single-track railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the canton of Graubünden, Switz ...

runs alongside the western side of the lake, with stations at Le Prese and Miralago. The main valley road (

Hauptstrasse 29 The Hauptstrasse 29 is a main road in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, with a total length of . The road begins at a junction with between Samedan and Pontresina, and passes Pontresina before climbing over the Bernina pass at a maximum elevation ...

) follows a higher route on the same side of the lake. A level hiking trail circumnavigates the lake, with some sections on the more precipitous eastern side in tunnel. The lake was first referred to in 1010, when the newly founded monastery of San Abbondio in

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

was granted fishing rights on the lake. By 1239 the fishing rights belonged to the . Between 1904 and 1907 the lake was converted into a reservoir as part of a series of

hydro-electric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

s in the Val di Poschiavo that are fed from the Lago Bianco. Water arriving at the lake in the Poschiavino river has already passed through several plants, and water leaving the lake passes along a tunnel high along the western side of the valley and then down a pipeline to feed the at

Campocologno Brusio ( Lombard: ''Brüs'', Romansh ''Brüsch'') is a municipality in the Bernina Region in the canton of Grisons in Switzerland. History Brusio is first mentioned in 1106 as ''Bruse''. It was first mentioned as Brusio in 1212. Previously it w ...

. The conversion to a reservoir involved constructing a dam at the lakes outfall at Miralago that raised the maximum level of the lake by . In operation the level of water can vary by up to , giving a usable storage capacity of . The total capacity of the lake when full is . There are current proposals to construct a pumped storage scheme based on Lago di Poschiavo and Lago Bianco, which is some higher. This would involve creating a long tunnel high along the western side of the Val di Poschiavo from Lago Bianco, followed by long shaft to an underground power plant on the banks of the Lago di Poschiavo. This would have a total installed capacity of 1000 MW and would consume electricity to pump water to the higher level at times of low demand and release water to generate electricity in times of high demand. The proposals have received formal consent from the cantonal authorities, but are not believed to be financially viable.

References

External links

* *

Poschiavo Poschiavo ( it, Poschiavo, lmo, Pusciaaf, german: Puschlav, rm, Puschlav) is a municipality in the Bernina Region in the canton of Grisons in Switzerland. History Poschiavo is first mentioned in 824 as ''in Postclave'' though this comes from ...

Val Poschiavo Poschiavo {{graubünden-lake-stub

Geography

See also

References

External links