Rawa (river)

Rawa
Rawa
	Rawa flowing through Katowice
Location
Country	Poland
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Ruda Śląska
Mouth
• location	Brynica, Sosnowiec
• coordinates	50°15′48″N 19°06′19″E / 50.2633°N 19.1054°E
Length	19.6 km (12.2 mi)
Basin size	89.8 km2 (34.7 sq mi)
Basin features
Progression	Brynica→ Przemsza→ Vistula→ Baltic Sea

Katowice market square

during reconstruction

The Rawa (pronounced: Polish:

Czarna Przemsza

.

The Rawa has lost most of its natural river character, and is now mostly a

ecologically sound water flow.^[2]

Characteristics

The river has a source in the Marcin pond in

Czarna Przemsza

.

During much of its route it flows underground, beneath the city's infrastructure. It is filled by rain, as well as sewage. It has several small confluences, such as Potok Leśny (near University of Economics in Katowice).^[2]

Pollution

The river is notorious for being heavily polluted. Reported to be crystal clear in 1875, the

industrialization of Silesia caused the river to become so polluted that all the fish died out by 1893. The continued growth of industry and cities throughout the 20th century, combined with little effort towards preserving the environment, continued to degrade the quality of the water in the river. In 1992, the river, leaving Katowice, was claimed to contain only 14% water,^[3] and a popular joke among the local citizens was to warn each other 'not to throw a lit match into the river'. Currently the upper part of the river is officially classified as sewage and the plan is to direct the entire river flow through a treatment plant.^[4]

In the 1990s plans to improve water quality and restore the ecology of the river were begun. So far new sewage treatment plants have been completed, and the plan is supposed to significantly improve the river's quality by 2010.