Vacha Reservoir, Artificial reservoir in Devin Municipality, Bulgaria
Vacha Reservoir is a reservoir on the Vacha River in the Rhodope Mountains, held back by a concrete gravity dam 144.5 m high, the tallest in Bulgaria, whose crest runs 420 m. The lake covers 5.0 km² and holds 226.2 million m³, reaching about 15 km up the narrow valley to Mikhalkovo. Its branching shoreline follows wooded slopes, with floating pontoons and rafts moored on the dark water.
The reservoir came into being in 1975 as part of the Dospat-Vacha Cascade project, which reorganized water management in the region. Flooding the valley transformed the landscape into a reservoir that has since supported energy generation and irrigation across southern Bulgaria.
The reservoir is known for its fish: grass carp, bream, zander, crucian carp, mullet, perch, chub, catfish, bleak, pumpkinseed, carp, rudd, bighead carp, sturgeon and pike. Locals tell of a human-sized catfish called The Golden One, whose scales flicker in warm, still weather. Floating pontoons with buildings, including a fish-breeding farm, line the water; some pontoon houses are rented out in summer.
The dam wall stands 12 km south of Krichim, and the road from Krichim to Devin runs along the reservoir. The water reaches about 15 km up the valley to the village of Mihalkovo. A good view over the area opens from the summit of Sveti Ilia.
The facility belongs to a system of cascade reservoirs that move water between basins to power turbines when electricity demand rises. Engineers designed the connection so that flows are directed from one basin to the next, making use of capacity across valleys.
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