Zetea Lake

The Zetea Dam, located on the Târnava Mare River in Harghita County, is the only artificial lake in the upper area of ​​the river, with a total volume of 44 million cubic meters. It provides water for downstream communities and protects against flooding, also having a flood wave retention capacity of 36.4 million cubic meters. Construction of the dam began in 1976 and was completed in 1992. The dam is equipped with a hydroelectric plant and is a tourist attraction.

In the period 1980-1984, for the construction workers, the "Zetea social colony" was created with concrete houses, which after the completion of the dam in 1993 began to depopulate.

The fish fauna of the lake includes various species of fish, among which bream and trout are predominant. The lake was also stocked with other species such as crucian carp, carp, tench and pike. Fishing can be practiced both from the shore and from the boat.


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Zetea commune is composed of six villages, located in the western part of the Harghita Mountains, on the upper part of the Târnava Mare River.

Andesite extraction activities were carried out here. It is also an important point for forest exploitation and wood processing, producing timber, furniture and wooden packaging, and manufacturing paints, varnishes and printing ink.

In the village of Sub Cetate there is a water mill built in the second half of the 19th century. Zetea village hosts an ethnographic museum.

In the village of Zetea, the ruins of a Geto-Dacian fortress were found, dating from the 1st century BC - 1st century AD, reinforced with three earthen walls. The first documentary mention of the village of Zetea dates back to 1333 under the name Sacerdos de Zokaloka, and in 1334 it appears under the name Zathalaka.

Above the village of Zetea, on the Târnava Mare River, a dam was built, completed in 1993, which led to the formation of the Zetea reservoir, used for flood prevention, water supply and electricity generation.

The lake can store 44 million cubic meters of water, of which 7.6 million represent the permanent volume, and 36.4 million constitute the reserve available in case of floods. The water in the lake feeds the turbine of a small hydroelectric power plant.