Summary:

The Nysa Łużycka River is a relatively poor river in terms of water re-sources which results in strong anthropoperssion. A characteristic phenomenon is a continuous discharge changeability in the river longitudinal profile. Brown coal mining and accompanying them investments, Polish and German mines as well as power plants have a major influence on The Nysa Łużycka river basin. Post-mining working closed in 1997 after German Bezdorf Mine is under rehabilitation by flooding waters of the Nysa Łużycka River and its left tributary, namely The Pliessnitz. The calculation of water resources balance allows to establish such conditions of water intake which represent a compromise between the need to flood the working and the effects of water abstraction on the environment and users located below. It is necessary not only to ensure an ecologically reasonable inviolable discharge but also maintain the minimal discharges guaranteed for 19 Polish and German water power plants. Working resulting from the flooding of the Berzdorf Lake is the main user of surface water in the Nysa Łużycka river basin. The reservoir is situated between the cities of Tauchritz and Klein Neudorf, west of the left bank of the river, about 10 kilometers above Zgorzelec watergauge. The installation provides maximum intake in the amount of 10 m3/s under the condition that the threshold of the discharge is maintained in the amount of Qgr = 13,3 m3/s.