The Establishment of the Czorsztyński Dam faced many controversies and protests. The planes of its creation date back to the beginning of XXth century, but they were only put to life 14 years ago. The Czorsztyński Dam, is the largest dam in Poland. It measures 404m long and 56m high. Its creation was controversial, mainly for the ecologists, who wanted to protect this natural environment.

The terrain on which the dam was built, was very rich in rare animal and plant species. As a compromise, between followers and opponents, there were numerous projects created, that are meant to protect those species. Among them, there is a “Bird Island," and special barriers were created, protect frogs from coming directly from the lake to the close by main road.

The fact that in this region, one of the rarest bird species in Poland breeds and lives in the warm summer months - the black stork, indicates that the friendly coexistence of man and nature is possible.

The Czorsztyński Lake lies between two beautiful mountain ranges: The Gorce and The Pieniny mountain. As a result of the creation of the dam, there were large terrains flooded, including the two main villages in the region. This change entailed major social changes and of course high costs. Arguments against the dams' creation lost importance very quickly after it completion. This was because in the year of the reservoirs' opening, which was 1997, this area of Poland was struck by one of the biggest floods of the century. Then, thanks to the possibility of regulating the water level on the lake, there were numerous villages saved from flooding lower down the river. It is estimated that during the largest flood the reservoir intercepted about 60% of the rough waters, preventing a true disaster for these villages. An additional advantage of course, is the clean energy produced by the hydro power plant located in the dam, the volume of its output is about 160 million kWh per annum.

The development of the dam and accompanying reservoir greatly affected the tourist attractiveness of this beautiful region. Currently, the coastline of the lake is 27km long and there are numerous holiday villages and towns around it. These include: Czorsztyn, Kluszkowce, Mizerna, Maniowy, Huba, Niedzica and Dębno Podhalańskie.