Upper Noteć Canals

The initial designs of this canal date back to the first half of the 19th century, as a solution to the recurring floods damaging the meadows along the Noteć river (1807, 1830). Worried that the works could lower the water level of the nearby Gopło lake and reduce the water supply for the Bydgoszcz Canal, the Prussian authorities kept delaying the required investment for a long time. Eventually, in 1857–1859, local private companies started to work on the boggy lowlands around the Gopło lake and the Noteć meadows. Official Prussian plans about the draining system of the upper Noteć river, from the Gopło lake to the Bydgoszcz canal, were only detailed in the 1870s.

On September 25, 1882, this canalised route was opened. It was 105 km long, of which over 30 km used the newly dug channel, thus avoiding the winding riverbed. The new path bypassed the river at Leszczyc hamlet and led to the village of Pakość. Besides, the water supply route channel from Dębinek to the mouth of the Bydgoszcz Canal was deepened and adapted for navigation, allowing navigation for ships up to 150 tons.

In 1879, the powiats of Inowrocław and Mogilno requested to the government to have the Pakoskie and Bronisławskie lakes included in the sewage system of the Noteć River. As a result, the Prussian authorities launched the project to link the lakes with a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) ditch. In later years, further works allowed the linking up of the "Żnińskie Lakes" (Kierzkowskie, Ostrowieckie, Foluskie lakes), to the upper Noteć river by the addition of two locks in Wójcin and Ostrowiec and the creation of a 112 kilometres (70 mi) long navigable channel(1905).[1]

GornoNotecki Canal in Murowaniec

The new Notecki Canal was established in the 19th century, as a result of many years of work aiming at regulating the water flow in the upper Noteć valley: indeed, before its construction, the uncontrolled river bed winded from Łabiszyn through Brzoza to Rynarzewo in a sweeping arc, regularly flooding the vicinity of its meanders.

Already during the construction of the Bydgoszcz Canal in 1774, a supply water course had been laid, branching from the Noteć river to Lisi Ogon, bypassing Rynarzewo. The completion of melioration plans, started in the 1890s, was interrupted by the upcoming WWI.[1]

Facing the inactivity of the Prussian authorities, Count Fryderyk Skórzewski, owner of the nearby Lubostroń Palace funded the first regulation works on the Noteć river and the supply canal which flowed through his estate. As a result, in 1825, a narrow ditch bypassed the great bend of the Noteć, closed by two sluices,"Antoniewo" and "Frydrychowo":[3] it was called the "Kanał Łabiszyński" ("Łabiszyn Canal"). In 1860, two companies were established to tackle the issue of water flow in the upper and middle sections of the Noteć river: "Spółka Okręgowa Melioracyjna Pakosko-Łabiszyńska" ("Pakosko-Łabiszyńska Regional Melioration Company) and "Spółka Okręgowa Melioracyjna Bydgosko-Łabiszyszyńska".[4] In the 1860s and 1870s, the Noteć riverbed was straighten up at the level of Łabiszyn and the upper valley of the river, once considered as very marshy, was gradually drained: peat and swamps eventually gave way to meadows and pastures.

In the 1870s, the Prussian authorities adapted the lock at Dębinek: a water distribution junction was created, receiving water from the Górnonotecki and the New Notecki Canals, regulating their flow both towards the Bydgoszcz Canal and the riverbed of the Noteć towards Rynarzewo.[4]

Nowadays, the Nowonotecki Canal provides irrigation water to the villages of Prądki, Przyłęki and Brzoza, covering approx. 1,813 hectares (4,480 acres). There are 10 permanent hydrotechnical structures on the canal: 9 culverts and 1 weir.[5]

Górnonotecki Kanał at Dębinek

The oldest mention of these waterways date back to 1297. During the reign of king Przemysł II,[6] the canal was used by "Korabnicy", a class of the population in charge of the production of flat-bottomed ship (Polish: korabi) for the benefit of the ducal court. The hamlet of "Bachorze" was a settlement of Korabnicy who carried out the crossing of this shallow swampy area mouthing into the Zgłowiączka. The area of "Bachorze" (today's Kobylniki, north of Kruszwica) was then completely flooded during the spring season.

In this place, local rulers ordered works on the deepening of the small rivers flowing there, in order to enable navigation throughout the year. The aim was to connect Vistula and Warta-Oder river basins, as the distance to be covered (from Gopło lake to the Vistula) was rather short (ca 40 kilometres (25 mi)) and the area was flat and wet.

The current canal was created after the drainage operations carried out in the middle of the 19th century: the first works were undertaken in 1836, with a following main effort in July–August 1855.[6] Beside the main channel, branching of the lake, a smaller one ("Kanał Bachorze Małe") runs on a parallel course to the north, branching of the Noteć riverbed.

This 46 kilometres (29 mi) long channel has the specificity to cross the watershed between Vistula and Oder drainage basins. Hence its waters in the western and eastern ends flow in two opposite directions.[7] The western arm flows into the Gopło lake, as one of its largest tributaries, while the eastern arm flows into the Zglowiączka river, a tributary of the Vistula river.[8]

The Upper Noteć Canal network has eight locks, built on the same pattern: a single-chamber device with dimensions of 42 metres (138 ft) × 5 metres (16 ft) made of concrete, bricks and stone blocks. Inside the chamber, water level drop reaches 13.68 metres (44.9 ft) towards the Bydgoszcz Canal. Each lock is equipped with a weir designed to drain excess water coming from the Noteć river across the canal.

Sluices on the Notecki Canals: