Abstract

The article gives an up-to-date evaluation of the Vistula river bed in the sector close below the Włocławek barrage. The river was crossed with a dam in October 1968. Since that time the process of bed erosion has been activated, reaching the distance of over 40 km below the barrage. With regulated river bed and erosive activity of the river in the lower sector of the dam the process of a new flood plain formation has begun and developed until now.

The existence of a single barrage in Włocławek, once designed to be one of the eight barrages in the Cascade of Lower Vistula, results in constant cutting into the river bed. In consequence stability of the dam and the nearby hydrotechnical objects is endangered. All the undertaken efforts to protect the river bed against erosion take a lot of money and the effects are poor and transitory. Building of the second barrage in the closeness of Nieszawa or Ciechocinek can limit the further degradation and save the money annually spent on the river bed reconditioning.

Keywords: Włocławek barrage, bed erosion, the front of erosional zone, flood plain