The Studen Kladenets Reservoir (язовир „Студен кладенец“) is the third largest

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

by volume in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

after Iskar Dam and

Kardzhali Dam The Kardzhali Reservoir is a reservoir formed by the ''Kardzhali Dam'', situated less than 1 km to the west of the town of Kardzhali in Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria. It is the second largest reservoir by volume in the country. The dam was c ...

. It is situated on the river

Arda Arda or ARDA may refer to: Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece * Arda (Italy), a river in Italy *Arda (Douro), a river in Portugal * Arda, Bulgaria, a village in southern Bulgaria * Arda, County Fermanagh, a townland in County ...

, and is created behind the Studen Kladenets dam, 30 km south-east of the town of Kardzhali. There are another two dams of the Arda -

to the west (upstream) and Ivaylovgrad Dam to the east (downstream). The reservoir has a total volume of 388 million m³ and a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

of 3,706 km² and is 29 km long. It is situated at an average 227 m above sea level, its dam being 338 m long and 67.5 m high. The top of the dam consists of nine spillways, each one being 10.5 by 5 m. "Studen Kladenets" Hydroelectric Power Plant is situated appr. 1 km downstream of the dam. Initially the HPP had four Francis-type turbines, 15 MW each. А project for reconstruction and upgrading the HPP with another 16 MW turbine and a smaller eco-turbine underwent and after the completion, the total output reached 85 MW with annual production of 165 GWh of electricity. Studen Kladenets reservoir is an attractive place for

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...

, where

rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without any further qualifiers is also used for individual species, particularly the common rudd (''S. erythrophthalmus''). Th ...

is caught in great numbers. "Studen Kladenets" stands for "a cold well" in

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

History

The initial plans for the construction of a dam on the Arda date to as early as 1948. Construction began in 1955 and was completed in 1957. The HPP started electricity production in 1958.

External links

* *http://www.nek.bg/cgi-bin/index.cgi?d=2046 Landforms of Kardzhali Province Rhodope Mountains Kardzhali Reservoirs in Bulgaria RStuden Kladenets {{bulgaria-struct-stub