Havel in the north – with Berlin and further with the Western European inland waterway system. The Oder is the second largest river in Poland. The drainage basin area calculated up to the Roztoka Odrzańska is 118,611 km², the length of the river is approx. 847 km (from the source to Lake Dąbie), and the length of the waterway is 741.60 km, calculated from the mouth of the Opava in Ostrava at km 0.00 (approx. 105 km of the river’s course) to the mouth of the Eastern Oder into Lake Dąbie – km 741.60
of the Oder Waterway (ODW).
On the section from the mouth of the Lusatian Neisse – km 542.40 ODW – to the Widuchowa junction at km 704.10, the Oder is a border river and all projects are undertaken jointly by the Polish and German sides. One such important project is the joint, almost annual icebreaking operation during the winter period, aimed at reducing flood risks on the border Oder. Conducting these joint operations encounters increasing difficulties resulting from the continuous and growing shallowing of the river. It is estimated that the average annual shallowing of the river is at least 1 cm per year over many years [4]. This is the result of many years of neglect in maintaining the existing regulation system, which can practically be considered destroyed. Icebreaking operations are often carried out at depths in many sections of less than 1.60 m. The draft of the largest icebreakers is 1.65 m, which, in situations of low depths, significantly hinders and sometimes even makes it impossible to conduct icebreaking operations.
There is therefore an urgent need to bring the border Oder to a state where a depth of 1.80 m is achieved along its entire length with the highest possible guarantee of at least 85%, i.e., for approx. 310 days a year. (…)
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Source: Logistyka Magazine 6/2011