Last fall I visited the Soodla water reservoir that I heard has been drying up, the water level has drastically gone down. I wanted to see it with my own eyes and decided to go and take some photos.
Soodla water reservoir is located in northern Estonia, about 45km away from the capital Tallinn. This reservoir is artificially inflated from the Soodla river in the 70s. The purpose was to have a backup for Tallinn's water supply because the water in this river was very clean.
Since it was also autumn time, I got some reflective and colorful photos.
You can clearly notice how the water level has gone down significantly. Usually, the water is up to the edge of where the treeline starts but now it's about 20-25 meters away. Judging by the eye, the water level has gone down by about 4 meters.
The 2022 summer was very dry, especially in August and September, and we rarely had any meaningful rain. This caused the Soodla lake to lose water and our capital Tallinn also used up some of the water in this reservoir.
You can see how some shallower areas have been totally dried up. Huge pieces of water-free land have appeared.
It looks like when the lake was inflated in the 70s, they didn't remove the tree trunks of the areas they flooded. These tree trunks are still here and not decayed. All this time these have been underwater but are now exposed to air once again.
I took these shots back in October and I wonder if the water level is still lower than it should be. A lot can happen during this time.
I tend to think that the water level has still not fully recovered but after snowmelts and precipitation, we have had during this wetter season, at least some portion of the water level is replenished.
Don't forget to participate in my monthly weather guessing game here and you might win 10 HIVE. The game is open until the 17th of March.
