Provala
The lake · water
The water of Lake Provala and its link to the Danube
Provala is fed by rain, groundwater and the Danube, and its level follows the river. A 1995 test rated the water first class, pH 8.5–8.6.
The lake · origin
How Lake Provala was formed
The name says it all: provala means a breach. The lake formed when the Danube, in a great flood, broke through the embankment near Vajska. When the river withdrew, water stayed in the hollow (Vojvodina Travel, Turistički klub).
1924 or 1926?
Sources disagree on the year. The Vojvodina Tourist Organisation and Turizmopedija give 1926 (Vojvodina Travel, Turizmopedija). Turistički klub and Stevan Adamović, president of the angling club “Šaran” from Vajska, give 1924, with 1926 and 1965 as later big floods (Turistički klub, Bač vesti). According to Adamović there was a marsh here before, and the lake took its present shape after the 1965 flood (Bač vesti).
Turistički klub also notes that the Danube reached 82 m above sea level then, 3 m above the floodplain, and that the embankment was strengthened after 1965 (Turistički klub).
Size
The lake is about 390 m long and 180 m wide, about 4.2 ha in area (Turistički klub, Bač vesti). The greatest depth measured today is 19 m; according to Adamović, 36 m was once measured (Bač vesti). The average depth is given as about 7 m, and most of the lake is 2–5 m deep (Turistički klub, Vojvodina Travel).
Sources
More in The lake
The lake · stories
Stories and legends of Provala
An 86-kilogram catfish, the “Copacabana of Vajska”, the Epiphany swim for the Holy Cross and the legend of the healing spring at Bođani: stories of Lake Provala.