Soběnov Reservoir
On the Černá River, which flows near Soběnov and Benešov nad Černou, a dam was completed in 1925. It is the oldest functioning dam in South Bohemia.
Its original stone dam holds a lake with an area of 3.9 hectares and a volume of 73,500 cubic meters of water. The reservoir’s importance lay in its use for powering a nearby hydroelectric power plant in the Černá Valley. Water was channeled from the reservoir through a tunnel and an underground pipeline with an elevation drop of 59.5 meters. However, during the floods of 2002, the Zlatá Ktiš dam upstream on the Černá River burst, and the incoming water destroyed part of the Soběnov dam. The resulting flood wave completely devastated a 2-kilometer stretch down to the power station below the village of Blansko. The once lively stream became almost stagnant in a massive channel with exposed boulders. In 2006, a new concrete dam faced with stone was built on the site of the original earthen dam. After the 2002 disaster, the educational trail “Valley of the Černá” was also restored.
