Ohře

There is also the river Ohre in northern Germany.

Ohře
File:Ohře z mostu u Bydyně nad Ohří.jpg Ohře near Budyně nad Ohří
Origin	Fichtelgebirge
Mouth	Elbe
Basin countries	Czech Republic, Germany
Length	316 km
Avg. discharge	38 m³/s
Basin area	6,255 km²

The Ohře (pronounced [ˈoɦr̝ɛ]; German: Eger, Czech also: Oharka or Ohara, Celtic: Agara, Polish: Ohrza) is a 316 km long river in Germany (65 km) and the Czech Republic (251 km), left tributary of the Elbe. The catchment area of the river is 6,255 km², of which 5,614 km² is in the Czech Republic and 641 km² in Germany. It is the third biggest river in the Czech Republic.

Several districts in Germany and the Czech Republic have formed an Euroregion initiative named Euregio Egrensis to foster cooperation in the region of Eger/Ohře/Cheb.

Etymology

There is a Czech pun that the Ohře got its name from the river Teplá (meaning "warm" in Czech) - "ohřát" means "to warm up". However the real origin, which also shows in the German name, is Celtic, from Agara (the "Salmon River"). The records show the name as Agara, Agira, Agra in the 9th century, Egire, Egra or Ogra in the 11th century and Eger in 1472. Another theory states that since in Macedonia there exists a Lake Ohrid, the Slavic people who settled in the Balkans, particularly Macedonia around Lake Ohrid, originated from the area of the river Ohře and thus named the lake in south Macedonia "Ohrid".

Sources

Source of the Eger (Ohře).

The source of the river Eger is situated in Bavaria at the foot of Schneeberg mountain in the Fichtelgebirge Range near the town of Weißenstadt.

The river then flows through the Weissenstadt Lake and the towns of Roeslau, Marktleuthen and Hohenberg where it leaves Germany. After about 35 km, the Eger (not to be confused with the town in Hungary), as the river is called in German, crosses the border into the Czech Republic to flow through parts of Bohemia which were known until 1945 as Egerland. The river passes the towns of Cheb, (German: Eger, like the river), Karlovy Vary, Klášterec nad Ohří, Kadaň, Žatec, Louny, and Terezín before flowing into the river Elbe at Litoměřice.

Flow

The highest volume flow rate occurs in spring. The average volume flow rate at the mouth is 37.94 m³/s. The lower part of the river flows through areas with the lowest average precipitation in the Czech Republic (less than 500 mm).

Use

The Ohře is primarily used for irrigation and hydroelectric energy. There are two dams: Skalka (built in 1962–1964, area 378 ha) and Nechranice (built 1961–1968, area 1338 ha). The river flows through the following important towns: Cheb, Sokolov, Loket, Karlovy Vary, Ostrov nad Ohří, Klášterec nad Ohří, Kadaň, Žatec, Louny, Libochovice, Budyně nad Ohří, Terezín and Litoměřice.

Tributaries

• Plesná (German: Fleißenbach) (Left)
• Odrava (German: Wondreb) (Right)
• Libocký potok (L)
• Svatava (German: Zwota, Zwodau) (L)
• Rolava (L)
• Teplá (R)
• Bystřice (L)
• Liboc (R)
• Blšanka (R)
• Chomutovka (L)

External links

• Media related to Ohře at Wikimedia Commons
• (German) (Czech) Euregio Egrensis cooperation

• Friedrich Umlauft: Geographisches Namenbuch von Österreich-ungarn: Eine Erklärung von Länder-, Völker, Gau-, Fluss und Ortsnamen, A. Hölder, 1886.