Słup Reservoir · Nysa Szalona · Lower Silesia · schematic cross-section
What drought reveals
When the water falls, the shore shows a fragment of a sentence: a piece of a small bridge, a stretch of road. Only a source can finish it – and where there is none, the sentence stays open.
The buttons need JavaScript. All answers for both water states and the three traces are in the comparison table.
Water state (changes the diagram and the answer)
State A (full capacity) · date: undated, reference state of the diagram · trace 01: identification from the description and caption in the publication; no bed elevation
Reference state of the diagram. The material gives neither a date nor a level value; this is not a measurement.
Trace (stays selected when the water state changes)
Type of answer
I see · trace 01 · A (full capacity)
Bridge fragment in Żarek
Observation according to a description or the diagram
At full capacity (A) the diagram assumes a water surface above the bridge: no part of the structure can be seen from the shore.
This is our own diagram, not a map and not a measurement. Heights and distances are conventional; levels A and B have no numerical values. There are no photographs of the relics on this page.
- A – the full-capacity line (reference state).
- B – the line of the lowered state in 2020, below A.
- Grey band on the slope – the shore between A and B, above water at B (modes B and A + B).
- 01, 02 – traces on the slope. Light circle: exposed according to a description; dark with a dashed outline: under water in the diagram’s assumption. The rust colour marks the selected trace.
- 03 and ‘?’ – the palace area off the scale: we do not know its elevation, so it lies at no height.
Observe only from the shore, at a place with confirmed, currently permitted access. This page does not designate such a place or a route.
Three traces, two water states – at once
The same content as in the cross-section, without clicking. ‘Diagram assumption’ means: it follows from the logic of the model, not from a measurement or a description.
| Trace | A · full capacity | B · lowered, 2020 | Source of identification | What we do not know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Bridge fragment in Żarek | Under water – diagram assumption. | Exposed fragments – according to the description in the publication. | Tarka, Nasze wody 3(4)/2020, p. 52 (description and photo caption). | Bed elevation, condition of the spans, thickness of the silt. |
| 02Approach road to the bridge in Żarek | Under water – diagram assumption. | Visible according to the photo caption. | Tarka, Nasze wody 3(4)/2020, p. 52 (photo caption). | Full course and surface; whether it was passable; layout of the village. |
| 03Palace area in Brachów | Off the scale. Brachów lies in the flooded area; the condition of the buildings is unknown. | No description of exposure in the material. This is not the same as ‘still under water’. | Postcard (Wikimedia Commons): a view from before the flooding. Tarka, p. 52: location of Brachów. | What remained after the flooding; elevation; date and author of the postcard. |
Three records about the reservoir
Dates from the supplied V2 material; we do not place them on a timeline, because the second one is only approximate. The links were not opened in this work.
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1973
The decision on the ‘Great Water’
Polish Waters (Wody Polskie) links the building of Słup with a Council of Ministers resolution on the development of the copper industry. Among other things, the project was to serve a joint drinking-water supply system for Legnica and the copper district.
Anna Tarka, Nasze wody 3(4)/2020, p. 52 – to be checked in the publication.
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1970s
A whole landscape changed
The reservoir was created by damming the Nysa Szalona. Brachów and Żarek stood where the water now lies. It is the story of settlements and of people whose everyday landscape ceased to exist in its former form.
Creation of the reservoir and the village names – Polish Waters (Wody Polskie) (V2 gives no separate address; to be checked).
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January–February 2020
A road and a bridge fragment
Nasze wody 3(4)/2020 describes the low water level in the region. Fragments of a former small bridge were exposed, and a photo caption points to the road leading to the bridge in Żarek.
Description of the event and photo caption – Tarka, p. 52. The date range ‘January–February’ comes from V2 and needs checking.
See the building. Do not add memories.
The postcard shows the palace in Brachów before the flooding. Its description on Wikimedia Commons identifies the building, but gives neither a date nor an author and does not show the layout of the whole village.
We do not overlay it on today’s shoreline. Such a comparison would need a verified map from the right period, shared reference points and an understanding of how the terrain has changed.
The file is not embedded in the page: the page is meant to work offline, and the rights marking (public domain according to Commons: PD-old and Public Domain Mark 1.0) must be confirmed at publication. File and description: Wikimedia Commons.
A visible wall or road is a trace, not a ready-made story about people’s lives. The memory of residents needs its own named sources; there are none here, and we do not invent them.
Limits of inference
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An exposed bed is not an invitation
Silt, unstable ground and a change in water level can make it hard to get back. Observe only from the shore, at a place with confirmed, currently permitted access. This material does not designate such a place, does not indicate a route and does not confirm that the approach is safe.
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A low water level is not yet proof of drought
Słup is a regulated reservoir, created by damming the Nysa Szalona. Its level can be affected by water management and retention, not only by precipitation. A link to meteorological drought requires separate data, which is not available here.
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One stretch of road is not a plan of a village
The road to the bridge in Żarek documents a single line of communication. Without verified maps from the right period, we do not reconstruct a settlement layout from it, nor do we assign it dates.
What changed compared with V2
- The observer’s notebook was removed without replacement. It did not help in understanding the topic, and saving in the browser required separate rules for deleting. The page now saves nothing.
- The list of dilemmas with the ‘Check the analysis’ button was moved into the captions. Each limitation now stands next to what it concerns: the water state, the trace or the limits section.
- The embedded postcard was replaced with a link, so that the page works without a network.
- Sentences without a basis in the material were removed: the description of a ‘stone-and-concrete abutment’ and the claim that the Brachów basin lies deeper than Żarek.
- Kept: three water states, the choice of trace, the observation–source–unknown card (now I see, I know, I don’t know) and all links to sources.