The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus,[Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Dravus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.] is a river in southern Central Europe.[ Utrata Fachwörterbuch: Geographie - Englisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Englisch by Jürgen Utrata (2014). Retrieved 10 Apr 2014.] With a length of ,[ Joint Drava River Corridor Analysis Report , 27 November 2014] or , if the length of its Sextner Bach source is added, it is the fifth or sixth longest tributary of the Danube, after the Tisza, Sava, Prut, Mureș and likely Siret. The Drava drains an area of about 40,154 square kilometers.[ Its mean annual discharge is seasonally to . Its source is near the market town of Innichen, in the Puster Valley of South Tyrol, Italy. The river flows eastwards through East Tyrol and Carinthia in Austria into the Styria region of Slovenia. It then turns southeast, passing through northern Croatia and, after merging with its main tributary the Mur, forms most of the border between Croatia and Hungary, before it joins the Danube near Osijek, in Croatia.
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Name
In ancient times the river was known as Dravus or Draus in Latin, and in Greek language as Δράος
Carpis
The Carpis (Greek: Κάρπίς) was a river which, according to Herodotus,[Hdt. 4.49.] flowed from the upper country of the Ombricans northward into the Ister (Danube), whence it has been supposed that this river is the same as the Dravus.[Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Carpis. 1". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.]
Geography
The Drava (along with one of its tributaries, the Slizza) and the Spöl are the only two rivers originating in Italy that belong to the Danube drainage basin. Its main Left tributary (from the north) are the Isel (contributes 39 m3/s), the Möll (25 m3/s), the (22 m3/s), the Gurk (30 m3/s) and the Lavant (12 m3/s) in Austria, and the Mur (166 m3/s) near Legrad at the Croatian–Hungarian border. Its main right tributaries (from the south) are the Gail (45 m3/s) in Austria, the Meža (12 m3/s) and Dravinja (11 m3/s) in Slovenia, and the Bednja (? m3/s) in Croatia.
Mean discharge is for the last station in the country mentioned in the source.[
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Course
The sources of the Drava are located at the drainage divide between the market town of Innichen/San Candido and neighbouring Toblach/Dobbiaco in the west, where the Rienz River rises, a tributary of the Adige/Etsch. At Innichen itself the 16+ km ,[ Sextner Bach at the South Tyrol/Alto Adige agency for the environment website] originating near the Sextener Rotwand, joins the ~2 km long source creek. The river than flows eastwards and after 8 kilometres crosses into East Tyrol in Austria. At Lienz it flows into the Isel, sourced from the glaciers of the Venediger Group and . The Isel (average discharge 39 m3/s) is almost three times larger than the Drava (14 m3/s) where they meet and, starting from the source of its tributary under the Rötspitze, the Isel (ca. 64 km) is also longer than the combined Drava and Sextner Bach (ca. 60 km) to that point.[Hydrographisches Jahrbuch Österreichs 2008, S. OG322][
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The river then flows east into Carinthia at Oberdrauburg. The river separates the Kreuzeck group range of the High Tauern in the north and the Gailtal Alps in the south, passes the Sachsenburg narrows and the site of the ancient city of Teurnia, before it reaches the town of Spittal an der Drau. Downstream of Villach, it runs along the northern slopes of the Karawanks to Ferlach and Lavamünd.
The Drava passes into Slovenia at Gorče near Dravograd, from where it runs for via Vuzenica, Muta, Ruše, and Maribor to Ptuj and the border with Croatia at Ormož.
The river then passes north of Varaždin, after which it receives the Plitvica and Bednja from the right, and then Mura at the border with Hungary. It continues as a largely border river towards the southeast, receiving and from the right. It passes the city of Barcs in Hungary from the south. It starts to be navigable, for about in Croatia, from the confluence of the Čađavica to its mouth. It passes Belišće from the north, receives the Karašica from the right, and then passes the city of Osijek from the north. Afterwards, it enters the Kopački Rit wetland and merges into the Danube from its right.
The hydrological parameters of Drava are regularly monitored in Croatia at Botovo, Terezino Polje, Donji Miholjac and Osijek.
Discharge
The Drava's mean annual discharge (Q) at Drávaszabolcs (Hungary, 77.7 rkm). Period from 1995 to 2023.|
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| 1995 | 479 | 2010 | 633.4 |
| 1996 | 598 | 2011 | 442.4 |
| 1997 | 437 | 2012 | 528.3 |
| 1998 | 513 | 2013 | 638.5 |
| 1999 | 588 | 2014 | 714.9 |
| 2000 | 549 | 2015 | 459.2 |
| 2001 | 464 | 2016 | 269.7 |
| 2002 | 410.6 | 2017 | 359.7 |
| 2003 | 348.8 | 2018 | 446.4 |
| 2004 | 501.6 | 2019 | 259.8 |
| 2005 | 474.1 | 2020 | 535.5 |
| 2006 | 326.7 | 2021 | 478.4 |
| 2007 | 338 | 2022 | 319.1 |
| 2008 | 483.5 | 2023 | 636 |
| 2009 | 627.9 | 2024 | |
Hydroelectric power plants
Currently, there are 22 Hydroelectricity power plants on the Drava. The power plants are listed beginning at the headwaters:
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Amlach power station | 60 | 219 |
Paternion | 24 | 95 |
Kellerberg | 25 | 96 |
Villach | 25 | 100 |
Rosegg-St. Jakob | 80 | 338 |
Feistritz-Ludmannsdorf | 88 | 354 |
Ferlach-Maria Rain | 75 | 318 |
Annabrücke | 90 | 390 |
Edling | 87 | 407 |
Schwabeck | 79 | 378 |
Lavamünd | 28 | 156 |
Dravograd | 26.2 | 142 |
Vuzenica | 55.6 | 247 |
Vuhred | 72.3 | 297 |
Ožbalt | 73.2 | 305 |
Fala | 58 | 260 |
Mariborski Otok | 60 | 270 |
Zlatoličje | 126 | 577 |
Formin | 116 | 548 |
| Varaždin | 86 | 476 |
| Čakovec | 75.9 | 400 |
| Dubrava | 84 | |
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The Drava is one of the most exploited rivers in the world in terms of hydropower, with almost 100% of its water potential energy being exploited.
Bibliography
External links
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DrauDrava - old river and new sounds
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Condition of Drava in various locations in Slovenia:
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Črneče - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Črneče by ARSO)
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Ptuj - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Ptuj by ARSO)
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Borl - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Borl by ARSO)
