Lake Barátúr

The Barátúri Lake is an artificial standing water body in a valley of the Baranya Hills. It was built as a flood reservoir, its main purpose being to protect the areas and settlements beneath it from floods coming from the upper section of the Baranya Canal and, from the other direction, from floods arriving on the Kaszánya stream. In addition, locals also plan its tourism and other uses.

Origin of the name

The naming competition announced in January 2018 was organized by the Baranya County Government, the South Transdanubian Water Management Directorate and the two affected settlements, Magyarhertelend and Magyarszék. The winning proposal, submitted independently by a Barátúri and a Pécs applicant, was selected after linguistic pre‑screening from more than a hundred name ideas by a jury consisting of water‑management officials and local mayors. The name refers to the part of Magyarhertelend belonging to Barátúr, on whose territory the lake is largely spread.

History

In the decade preceding the creation of the standing water body, extreme weather frequently caused short but intense rains in the region, leading to floods and significant damage, making a flood‑peak‑reduction reservoir necessary to handle these hard‑to‑predict, fast‑flowing floods and thus protect the roughly four thousand inhabitants living in the areas beneath it. The preparation and construction of the lake was realized as a European Union‑funded project titled “Construction of a flood reservoir on the Baranya Canal water catchment” by a consortium of the National Water Management Directorate and the South Transdanubian Water Management Directorate, costing nearly two billion forints between 2016 and 2019. The inauguration‑naming ceremony was held on 11 July 2019, and the operational water level was reached by Barátúri Lake in February 2020.

Description

The lake can be divided into a northern and a southern basin, separated by a deeply extending peninsula, at the end of which stands a large tree left from the original vegetation. The flood reservoir, for most of the year, at the operating water level of 151 m (above sea level), has a water surface area of 28 hectares and contains 410 000 m³ of water. In flood conditions this can be increased by 870 000 m³, whereby the lake reaches a surface area of 53.5 hectares and a capacity of 1 280 000 m³ at the level of 153 m (above sea level). The reservoir is of a long‑fill design; the excess water flow of the Baranya Canal enters the reservoir area through a side channel 60 metres wide over a length of 2600 metres.

Utilization

Its primary role is flood protection, but it is also planned to be used as a multi‑purpose lake for swimming, water sports, fishing and other economic purposes.