Skawa River

The Skawa is a right-bank tributary of the Vistula, a Carpathian mountain river flowing entirely within the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is 96.4 km long and its basin covers 1,160 km². The Skawa begins on the border of Podhale and the Beskids, crosses the Żywiec, Maków and Mały Beskids, flows between the Silesian and Wieliczka Foothills and joins the Vistula near Smolice. The mountain part of the basin closes at the Wadowice gauge, 21 km from the mouth: upstream of it lie 835 km² of mountains.

The course: from source to mouth

The Skawa rises in several streams below the Spytkowice pass at about 700 m, near Spytkowice; the upper course has traditionally been called Wsiowy Potok. The river first flows north-east, then turns north-west and passes Jordanów, Bystra Podhalańska, Osielec and Juszczyn. It then runs past Maków Podhalański and Sucha Beskidzka, where it cuts through the hills between the Maków and Mały Beskids, and near Świnna Poręba and Mucharz fills the new Lake Mucharz. Below the dam the Skawa enters the foothills and flows through Wadowice and Zator to the Vistula. It has dozens of tributaries — the Skawica, Bystrzanka, Stryszawka, Łękawka, Tarnawka and other mountain streams; its sinuosity coefficient is 1.7.

Until the end of the 19th century the Skawa, like the other Carpathian tributaries of the Vistula, flowed in a natural braided bed with several channels; near Zator the whole channel system was up to 900 m wide. The river was regulated as one of the «canal rivers» linked to the Galician Canal, built from 1911, and by the end of the 1940s it had been narrowed to a single channel from Jordanów to the mouth.

What to see along the river

• Sucha Beskidzka Castle (Little Wawel) — a Renaissance residence in the Skawa valley.
• Lake Mucharz (Jezioro Mucharskie) — the reservoir between Świnna Poręba, Mucharz and Zembrzyce.
• John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice — in the town on the Skawa where the pope was born.

The river and people

The Skawa has a great flood potential: it reacts quickly to downpours, and its floods are violent though short. In 1580 a flood swept away the whole village of Wiglowice on the lower course — only the name of a hamlet of Laskowa recalls it. In 1783 the flooded Skawa destroyed the left-bank part of Sucha, after which the authorities decided to build the first bridge in Wadowice. Because of frequent floods in the early 19th century, the road from Wadowice to Sucha was laid out in the 1840s only along the left bank, although the old track between Gorzeń and Mucharz forded the river's meanders many times. After the 1884 flood the Vienna government ordered the Skawa to be regulated; in 1903 five weeks of rain caused one of the greatest floods on the whole upper Vistula, and on 17 July 1934 the water at Woźniki rose by 5 m. The biggest answer is Lake Mucharz: the project dates back to the 1950s, construction began in 1986, the Wadowice – Skawce railway was dismantled in 1988–1992, and the 640 m long, 50 m high dam came into service in 2017–2020. The lake holds up to 161 million m³ and protects Wadowice and Kraków from floods.

At the dam the Skawa's mean annual flow is 11.5 m³/s, and in drought it falls to 0.77 m³/s; the reservoir now guarantees at least 6.4 m³/s.

Nature and safety

Pondweeds rare in the Carpathians have been found in the Skawa valley, at Dąbrówka and Świnna Poręba. The river's water is mountain-cold and rises quickly after downpours, so do not enter the bed during high water and do not leave gear on gravel bars. Mountain rescue is GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300; the general emergency number is 112.

Nearby: peaks, trails, huts

From Sucha Beskidzka the trail Sucha Beskidzka – Przysłop climbs to the ridges, the Skawa valley is crossed by the Main Trail of Beskidy and the Mały Szlak Beskidzki, and Andrychów – Groń Jana Pawła II – Świnna Poręba descends to Świnna Poręba above the lake.

Photos: Slawojar, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Slawojar2, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Silar, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; user:ukasiu, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.