The Bělá is a river in the Czech Republic, a right tributary of the Divoká Orlice River. It flows through the Hradec Králové Region. It is long.
Etymology Bělá is a common Czech name of watercourses, derived from the Czech word bílá (i.e. 'white'). Names of rivers with this colour in the name often referred to the stony or pebbly nature of the river bed.
Characteristic
The Bělá originates in the territory of Sedloňov in the Orlické Mountains below the mountain Velká Deštná at an elevation of and flows to Častolovice, where it enters the Divoká Orlice River at an elevation of . It is long. Its drainage basin has an area of . The average discharge at its mouth is 2.39 m3/s.
The longest tributaries of the Bělá are: Tributary Length (km) River km Side Kněžná 26.7 2.7 left Lokotský potok 8.7 3.7 left Štědrý potok 8.6 1.3 left
Course The river flows through the municipal territories of Sedloňov, Deštné v Orlických horách, Liberk, Osečnice, Skuhrov nad Bělou, Kvasiny, Solnice, Černíkovice, Třebešov, Lično, Hřibiny-Ledská, Libel, Synkov-Slemeno and Častolovice.
Bodies of water There are 122 bodies of water in the basin area. The largest of them is the fishpond Černíkovický rybník with an area of , built on the Chobot Brook.
Canals About 1 km before the mouth, the river divides and part of the water continues through the Alba Canal. It is a long canal, connecting the Bělá with the Dědina River. The canal was gradually built from the end of the 14th century until 1550. It used to feed a system of fishponds, which no longer exist today. It is a historically important example of landscape modifications in the Middle Ages, which is protected as a cultural monument.
A cultural and technical monument is also the canal Dlouhá strouha, located in Kvasiny. It was built at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries to power the large Černíkovice mill. The upper part of the canal was also used to supply several factories with water.
References
External links
River flow at Častolovice station – Flood Warning and Forecasting Service of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute