Narva Reservoir is a reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 by Narva River

Narva River

The Narva is a river flowing into the Baltic Sea, the largest river in Estonia. Draining Lake Peipsi, the river forms the border of Estonia and Russia and flows through the towns of Narva/Ivangorod and Narva-Jõesuu into Narva Bay. Though the river is only 77 km long, in terms of volume...

, shared by Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

.

The reservoir was constructed during 1955-1956, during the Soviet times. It provides water to Narva Hydroelectric Station

Narva Hydroelectric Station

The Narva Hydroelectric Station is a hydroelectric power station in Ivangorod, Russia. It is fed by the Narva Reservoir on the Narva River and is located downstream of the Narva Dam on the east bank of the river...

 (installed capacity 125 MW, located on the Russian side and owned by the power company TGC-1

TGC-1

TGC-1 is a regional power company operating in North-West Russia...

) and cooling water to the Estonian Narva Power Plants

Narva Power Plants

The Narva Power Plants are a power generation complex in Narva in Estonia, near the border with Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The complex consists of the world's two largest oil shale-fired thermal power plants, Eesti Power Plant and Balti Power Plant . In 2007, Narva Power Plants generated about...

. Its surface area at normal headwater level of 25 metres (82 ft) is 191 square kilometres (73.7 sq mi), of which 40 square kilometres (15.4 sq mi) belongs to Estonia. Its drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

is 55848 square kilometres (21,563 sq mi).

The overall water exchange rate is high (about 30 times year), with some almost stagnant areas. The ecological status is estimated as "good" (as of 2007).