Slapy Reservoir is a reservoir on the Vltava whose water level in 2026 fell to its winter level unusually early because of extreme drought.
Slapy Reservoir is a reservoir on the Vltava that Povodí Vltavy uses in maintaining the river’s flow. In 2026, extreme hydrological drought markedly lowered its water level.[1][2]
Fall in the water level in 2026
At the beginning of September 2026, the water level stood at 269.3 metres above sea level. In mid-September it fell below 267.5 metres, the level set for the winter period, which happened unusually early.[2][1] On the evening of 7 October 2026, the level was 263.3 metres above sea level.[1]
The Orlík Reservoir began reducing its outflow on 4 September 2026, and Povodí Vltavy is for the first time using the water stored in Slapy to maintain the necessary flow of the Vltava in Prague.[1] On 7 October 2026, the Central Bohemian Region’s drought management commission permitted a reduction of the minimum outflow from Vrané, which is intended to slow the fall of the level at Slapy.[1][2]
Exposed bed and the rescue of freshwater mussels
The loss of water is most visible below the Kamýk reservoir, where the Vltava looks more like a wider stream. The fall in the level has in places exposed former weirs and paths along which horses pulling boats walked before the reservoir was created. Conservationists and volunteers are rescuing freshwater mussels on the exposed banks; they have returned more than 70,000 mussels to the water, and more than 520 volunteers have taken part.[1]
Chronology
- — The regional drought commission declared a state of water shortage on the Vltava and the Elbe in central Bohemia and permitted a reduction of the minimum outflow from the Vltava Cascade at the Vrané waterworks from 35 to 20 cubic metres per second until 30 April 2027. → ČTK / České noviny Novinky.cz
- — Conservationists and volunteers returned more than 70,000 freshwater mussels to the water on the banks of Slapy Reservoir, whose level is falling because of hydrological drought. ČTK / České noviny Ekolist.cz
Sources
- ČTK / České noviny — 7 October 2026
- Novinky.cz — 7 October 2026