Shiroka Polyana

Shiroka Polyana (Bulgarian: Широка поляна) is a reservoir situated in the Western Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria.

With no settlements in its vicinity, the reservoir is amidst old-growth coniferous forests and is surrounded by three protected areas — Shiroka Polyana to the north-northwest, Studenata Chuchurka to the south-southwest and Kaval Tepe to the east.

With its irregular shores, viewed from the road it seems that Shiroka Polyana is composed of numerous small lakes.

This illusion is due to the indented relief of the lake bed that consists of several mountain gullies.

Shiroka Polyana is the most important structure of the Shiroka Polyana junction of the Batak Hydropower Cascade (254 MW), which includes a system of dams and pumping stations, aimed at collecting water from the upper course of the catchment areas of the rivers Dospat and Vacha,[1] and more specifically, the left tributaries of the latter, the Devinska reka and the Gashnya.