Morávka Reservoir, reservoir in Czechia

Morávka Reservoir is a valley dam on the Morávka River near the village of Morávka in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids. Its earth-fill dam, built between 1961 and 1964, has a volume of 652,000 m³ and holds 12 million m³ of water. The reservoir covers 79.5 hectares and is fed by the Morávka and Slavíč streams.

The dam was first planned near Raškovice, 8 km downstream, but in late 1953 an alternative site at the Slavíč stream mouth was chosen to supply drinking water to the growing Ostrava region and planned Havířov. The earth dam was built in 1961–1964 with an asphalt-concrete surface seal; seepage above 0.3 m³/s halted filling in 1965, and the reservoir only filled definitively in 1966–1967. After the September 1996 flood breached the seal to a depth of 1.6 m, the reservoir was drained and rebuilt in 1997–2000, the asphalt replaced by a PVC membrane and a new drainage gallery added.

The reservoir is named after the Morávka River, which feeds it, and the village of the same name. Its water is among the highest-quality drinking water sources in the Moravian-Silesian Region, supplying nearby towns. Because of this protection, fish farming is carried out only on a limited scale, and recreation on the water is banned.

The reservoir lies on the Morávka River by the village of Morávka in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids; the dam stands between the slopes of Travný (1,204 m) and Slavíč (1,056 m). The whole surroundings fall under a hygiene protection zone, so swimming is not permitted and fish farming is limited. Access is on foot along marked paths; the dam body and the draw-off tower can be viewed from outside.

The dam's original seal was an asphalt-concrete facing, unusual instead of the usual clay core. During first filling in 1965 it leaked over 0.3 m³/s, forcing a halt; the 1997–2000 rebuild replaced it with a PVC membrane and added a drainage gallery.