Dospat Reservoir

Dospat Reservoir (Bulgarian: язовир Доспат) is situated in the western part of the Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria. The reservoir (formed by a dam in the town of Dospat, 82 km (51 mi) west of Smolyan) stretches nearly 19 km (12 mi) northwest to the city of Sarnitsa. At 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above the sea level, it is one of the highest dams in Bulgaria in terms of altitude, and, with its 22 km² (8.5 sq mi) of water area, the second largest in capacity. It is fed by the Dospat River.

The dam, which creates the lake, is built for hydroelectricity generation. There is no HPP (hydroelectric power plant) installed at the dam but rather the water is taken to the Teshel HPP and then further down the Devin HPP and the Vacha River with its HPPs, dams and reservoirs (Tsankov Kamak HPP, Vacha Reservoir, Krichim Reservoir, Vacha II HPP, Krichim HPP and Vacha I HPP). Besides that, a minimum of 0.15 m³/s (0.20 cu yd/s) is constantly released for sanitation of the Dospat River riverbed where the average input to the reservoir is 7.9 m³/s (10.3 cu yd/s).

Dospat

Dospat (Bulgarian: Доспат) is a town in the very south of Bulgaria, part of Smolyan Province, situated in the Rhodope Mountains, close to Dospat Dam. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Dospat Municipality. As of December 2010, the town has a population of 2,425 inhabitants who are mainly Pomaks.

The town was probably founded by Despot Alexius Slav in the 12th or 13th century, from whose title (despot) its name is very likely derived. Dospat Dam is the highest dam in Bulgaria by altitude and, with its 22 km² of water area, the second largest in capacity. It is fed by the River Dospat. At the bottom of the lake is a former German military airport from the Second World War.

Honour

Dospat Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Dospat.

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Dospat (river)

The Dospat (Bulgarian: Доспат; Greek: Δεσπάτης, Despatis) is a river in the Western Rhodope Mountains, the most important tributary of the Mesta.

It takes its source from Bulgaria, from the 1643-metre-high Rozov vrah ("Rose Peak") and flows southeast until Dospat Dam, after which it makes a turn southwest to continue generally to the south and flow into the Mesta as a left tributary near the village Mikrokleisoura on Greek territory just south of the Greek-Bulgarian border.

The Dospat has a drainage basin of 633.5 km². Its length is 110 km, of which 89 in Bulgaria and 21 in Greece. For a small distance of 3 km it forms the Greek–Bulgarian border.