GEPN - Exploring the Black Grouse's Clay

The Exploring Podwarszawskie Diving Group invites you to dive in the Cietrzewia Glinki, located in the Warsaw district of Włochy. An unusual opportunity to log real open water diving in the capital! The planned dive is a reconnaissance before the Water Cleanliness Week. If we decide that the reservoir qualifies for cleaning and the visibility allows you to see any impurities, we will return there in April 2013 with an official underwater cleaning action.

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In 1842, the first brickworks was established in Włochy, which exploited the clay deposits. Clay was abundant in this area, so brick production was moved from place to place until the raw material was exhausted. Today, the only trace of the factory are the numerous ponds (e.g. the ponds in Cietrzewia Street and Capricorn Street). In 1844 the brickyard and the entire settlement was purchased by Koelichen and remained in the hands of his descendants until the parceling out in 1928.

These ponds were created by the extraction of clay for use in the surrounding brickworks. Hence the popular name of the site, Glinianki. After clay extraction ceased, the area was used to store ice during the summer, the so-called icehouses. After the site ceased to be used, they were flooded with water and were given their present-day appearance. The ponds were undeveloped and provided a sanctuary for aquatic wildlife despite their use for sewage disposal from the nearby bus depot. In the 1990s the ponds were landscaped, with alleys and children’s play areas created. The discharge of waste water ceased. Today, it is one of the most attractive recreational places for the residents of Stare Włochy.

Ponds have common names. The largest pond is called “Ocean” and the smaller pond connected to it by a ford at Cietrzewia Street is called “Szkolny” due to the vicinity of the buildings of Primary School No. 94. The smallest pond is called “Karpiówka”. The ponds are shrouded in legends about their great depth and vehicles sunken in them. Modernisation work carried out in the 1990s did not confirm these stories. These stories can be classified as so-called urban legends

The Park with the Black Grouse Ponds is the largest green area in the Warsaw-Włochy district. It covers an area of nearly 8 hectares (half of which is covered by the water level of the Black Grouse Pond). You can relax sitting on one of 22 benches. In the park, on a sand and rubber surface, there is a playground for children with slides, swings, a merry-go-round and a sandpit, as well as an outdoor gym. So you can come with the whole family!

Terrain: 3.92 hectares; Water: 4.18 hectares (Marginal Clay, Cressman’s Clay), average depth 4.1 metres. Maximum 10 metres.

According to one of our diver friends, a firefighter from a specialist water and diving group, in the middle of the reservoir the depth reaches 7-8 metres. In July he found himself there with a visibility of about 1 metre. When the park was modernised, piers were built for anglers from which you can enter the water. Access to the clay pit itself is possible from several places.

Deadline: Sunday, 19 August 2012, at 10:00am

More info on event page!

Source: Organiser