Żywiec Lake (Polish: ''Jezioro Żywieckie'') is a
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
on the
Soła river in southern Poland, near the town of
Żywiec
Żywiec () is a town on the River Soła in southern Poland with 31,194 inhabitants (2019). It is situated within the Silesian Voivodeship, near the Żywiec Lake and Żywiec Landscape Park, one of the eight protected areas in the voivodeship. H ...
. It was created in 1966, when several villages in the area, such as Zarzecze, Tresna, Zadziel and Old Żywiec were flooded following the construction of a dam. The lake has the area of around 10 square kilometres, and the earth-filled dam is 39 metres high and 310 metres long. The maximum depth of the lake is , and the average depth is . Near the dam there is a hydro-electric power plant with the capacity of . Żywiec Lake is used mostly for tourist purposes, to regulate the flow of water, and to protect the area from flooding.
On November 15, 1978, at 5 a.m., two
Autosan PKS buses, in a 15-minute interval, skidded while driving along the lake, and fell into icy water. The buses were carrying coal miners to work at
Brzeszcze
Brzeszcze () is a town in Oświęcim County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland, near Oświęcim. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 10,935. The history of the town dates back to the 15th century, and it was probably found ...
coal mine. Thirty people died, and nine survived. This tragedy is commemorated by a plaque near the bridge.
Sources
gmina Łodygowice, located at the lake (official website)
Tourist information of Beskidy
Lakes of Poland
Reservoirs in Poland
Żywiec County
Lakes of Silesian Voivodeship
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