Water threats Nové Mlýny Lakes

Czech erasmus+ team

Nové Mlýny Lakes Nové Mlýny lakes (New Mills) is a system of three lakes on the river Dyje, 30 km from the city of Brno (the second largest city in the Czech Republic) These lakes were built in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century Near the lakes there are Pálava hills (biosphere reserve of UNESCO) with breathtaking landscape and medieval castles The lakes are surrounded by agricultural land with vineyards

Economic threats Over one million tourists come to South Moravia mainly to the Pálava region - every year On the one hand it is good, because our region is a beautiful place and tourists are amazed On the other hand, with an increasing number of tourist there is more litter on trails and nature is damaged

Svatý kopeček v Mikulově (Holy Hill in Mikulov) Sirotčí hrad (Orphan’s castle)

Next problem is constructions of motorways If there is a motorway going across the lakes in the future, the beauty and charm of the place will decline Fortunately, it is still only in discussion and we hope they will come with another idea that will be environmentally-friendly

In the year 2018 a spa will be built in the region of Pálava; this project is not financed only by the Czech Republic, but also by other investors from China The good thing is that there will be more work opportunities, but there will also be more tourists and not so calm and clean nature

Enviroment threats Every year a lot of turists come to the Pálava region and in most of the cases it isn’t good for the Palava’s enviroment For example: people throw rubbish like plastic bottles, foils etc. in the open areas It does harm to the landscape as well as animals which live there

Also a big threat is the decrease of water level which affects a very rare mussel - Painter’s mussel When the water level goes down, water surface falls and there is less and less space for mussels and sometimes they are found on the land dead or dying Also when the water level goes down, the blue-green algaes starts to expand very quickly and because of that there is less oxygen for other living forms like fish and mussels.

Another threat but not so big one is people who live near the Nové Mlýny lakes They produce a lot of unhealthy gas and that cause a growth of emissions Until 2000 there had been a big emission of sulphor dioxide(SO2), oxids of nitrogen(NOx) and carbon monoxide(CO), but to 2013 the emission went down a lot

Emission in tons Legend: SO2 = sulphor dioxid NOx = oxids of nitrogen CO = carbon monoxid

Social problems The biggest social problem of the Pálava Region is a big distance from economic and cultural centres (the city of Brno) Next problem is a shortage of job vacancies in the Pálava Region, so inhabitants need to commute mostly to Brno But now the problem is much better, because there are new job opportunites in the area of tourism (new waterpark, archeologic museum)

Pavlov archeologic museum Waterpark near the lake

For our region it is also important to keep local traditions alive (folk costumes, songs and dances) These traditions are still inherent part of our cultural identity and daily life (folk festivals called “Hody”, grape harvest, folklore groups and bands) Folk dance and costumes

The big cultural problem of the Nové Mlýny lakes is bad state of the church of st. Leonard on the island in the middle of the lake It is the ultimate residue of the village called Mušov We hope that in the next years an overall reconstruction will start and the place will get its glamour back

To sum up The biggest threats of the Pálava region are connected with a growing number of tourists, but we think if these lakes are treated well and cleanliness is preserved the beauty around will be saved and we can share it with tourists without fear