Żerań Canal
The Żerań Canal (also: Vistula Bug Canal , Polish Kanał Żerański ) is an artificial waterway that connects the Warsaw Vistula with the Zegrze Reservoir and thus the Narew and the Bug . It begins at the Warsaw industrial port Żerań and ends at the entrance to the reservoir at the village of Nieporęt .
The length of the canal is 17.6 kilometers, its width on average 25 meters (max. 41 meters) and its depth on average 2.5 meters (max. 3 meters). It has a chamber lock (named after its builder, engineer Tadeusz Tillinger) in Żerań and a weir in Nieporęt. The canal is crossed by one pedestrian, eight road and four railway bridges. It runs parallel to the state road 633.
history
In the 17th century, the northern part of today's canal was called the "Royal Canal" (Polish Kanał Królewski ) on behalf of Sigismund III. Wasa built. Its main purpose was to regulate the water level in the area and thus prevent flooding in the king's hunting area. When Poland's access to the Baltic Sea was threatened by Prussian customs policy in the 19th century, the idea arose to use the old canal as the basis for a new connection from the Vistula via the Augustów Canal to the Memel and thus to the Baltic Sea and the Dnepr-Bug Canal (also known as the “Royal Canal”) to the Dnepr and thus to the Black Sea . It was only partially implemented.
In 1910 the idea of connecting the Vistula and the Bug was again taken up by the Tsarist Ministry of Transport. The project envisaged a 90 kilometer canal stretch from Warsaw to Brest . Finally, a 20-kilometer section from Żerań ( Białołęka ) to Zegrze was approved , with which the waterway from the Vistula to the Bug was shortened from 61 to 20 kilometers. An essential purpose of this canal, however, was the drainage of the Bródno-Nieporęt plain. The first work on the new canal began in 1919, but was stopped shortly afterwards as a result of the Polish-Soviet War . Smaller additions took place in the years 1935 to 1938, after which a narrow, 2.5 km long canal from Żerań to an older drainage canal in Bródno was created. After the war - in 1950 - the idea was revived and as early as 1951, at the same time as the construction of the port in erań, the construction of the lock and the canal began. In 1953 the construction work was completed.
use
Originally planned for use by Class IV ships with a transport capacity of 1,350 tons, the canal could only be released for barges with a capacity of up to 300 tons after completion due to a lack of financial means. Today the canal is mainly used for pleasure craft. On weekends you can take the excursion boat “Zefir”, co-financed by the Warsaw City Transport Authority (ZTM), from the port in Żerań through the canal to the port in Serock .
Warsaw's second largest power plant is located in Żerań and uses the canal water for cooling purposes. Due to corresponding discharges, the water temperatures in the canal are higher than in the surrounding area. The resulting abundance of fish makes the canal the most attractive fishing area in Warsaw.
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to Yearbook Die Technik , Volume 8, Chamber of Technology (Ed.), Verlag Technik, 1953, p. 171 f.
- ↑ according to Drive directory Rejsy do Serocka on the website of Tramwaj Wodny (in Polish)
