The Upper Neretva () is the upper course of the Neretva river, located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It includes the mountainous area surrounding the Neretva, with human settlements, peaks and forests, streams and wellsprings, three major glacial lakes near the river and more scattered across the mountains of Treskavica and Zelengora, in a wider area of the Upper Neretva.
The Neretva is divided into three common hydrological sections: upper, middle and lower.
The Neretva has been harnessed and controlled to a large extent by four Hydroelectricity with Dam (higher than 15 meters)
Geography and hydrography
The
Neretva is largest
karst river in the
Dinaric Alps in the entire eastern part of the
Adriatic basin, which belongs to the
Adriatic river watershed. The total length is 230 km, of which 208 km are in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the final 22 km are in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of
Croatia.
Geographically and hydrographical the Neretva is divided in three section.
Course
The Neretva springs are situated deep in the
Dinaric Alps at the base of the
Zelengora and Lebršnik mountains under the village Jabuka and the saddle
Gredelj. The Neretva headwaters run in undisturbed rapids and waterfalls, carving steep gorges reaching 600–800 meters in depth through this remote and rugged limestone terrain.
The upper course of Neretva, Upper Neretva
() has water of Class I purity
and is almost certainly the coldest river water in the world, often as low as 7-8 degrees Celsius in the summer months.
First section, Upper Neretva, of the Neretva river from its source at 1,227 m.a.s.l. and headwaters gorge all the way to the town of Konjic is 90 km,
Second section begins from the confluence of the Neretva and the Rama river between Konjic and Jablanica where the Neretva suddenly takes a southern course and enters the largest canyons of its course, running through steep slopes of magnificent mountains of Prenj, Čvrsnica and Čabulja reaching in depth. From here Neretva flows toward the Adriatic Sea.
Neretva springs
The Neretva river rises beneath the mountain saddle known as Gredelj. Its spring consists of five individual well-springs on the forested and steep slopes of
Gredelj ridge. They are difficult to access and even harder to find in a very thick forest. For many years place exists at the border of the oldest National Park in Bosnia and Herzegovina, NP Sutjeska with its primeval forest Perućica, but itself never protected.
Settlements and valleys
Konjic is the only town in the Upper Neretva. Two largest villages include
Ulog and Glavatičevo, with a number of smaller ones, such as Bjelimići, Obalj,
Lukomir and other.
Borač valley
The Neretva headwaters gorge is actually a broad valley, up to 1 km wide and 20 km long, called Borač. Nevertheless, because of its position among the great mountain chains, in the heart of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dinaric Alps, Borač has a very steep slope and the Neretva river significant
(hydrological) elevation. Several major well-sources significantly complement the Neretva river, among which the most important and with largest quantity of fresh and potable water are
"Krupac" and
"Pridvorica" well-springs.
Borač valley, before the
Bosnian war, was inhabited mostly by local Muslims, whose villages were completely destroyed and the people murdered, imprisoned into a concentration camp in
Kalinovik and deported mostly to third countries in a broad ethnic cleansing by Serb para-military forces. Some of the villagers now returning to their land, repairing and rebuilding their houses.
The
Borač valley ends one kilometer upstream from the entrance to small mountain town of
Ulog, where at the same time begins
Valley of Ulog.
Ulog and Ulog valley
Ulog is a small mountain town in Ulog Valley at the banks of the Upper Neretva river, in the heart of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dinaric Alps, surrounded with great mountain chains of
Zelengora,
Lelija,
Crvanj and
Treskavica. Town is formed by
Ottoman Empire, on old caravan road from
Mostar via
Nevesinje en route to
Istanbul. From Ulog downstream of the Neretva river is wide valley named Ulog valley. During the
Bosnian war, Ulog was suffered extensive destruction from Serb forces, and its civilian population, mostly
Bosnian Muslims and some
Croats, were completely annihilated, though town and its surrounding never saw significant, if any, battles or military confrontation.
Glavatičevo and Župa valley
Glavatičevo is a small village in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The village is located 30 kilometers away from
Konjic in a southeast direction, within a wide Župa valley (also Komska Župa or Konjička Župa or simply Župa) (župa ) on both banks of the
Neretva river, in Konjic Municipality, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Dr. Pavao Anđelić in his book "Spomenici Konjica i okoline" claimed that Glavatičevo got its name from the name of the local nobleman Glavat or Glavatec.
Konjic
Streams and tributaries
Rivers of the
Jezernica (also
Tatinac), the Gornji and Donji Krupac, the Ljuta-Dindolka, the
Jesenica, the Bjelimićka Rijeka, the
Slatinica River, the Račica, the Rakitnica, the Konjička Ljuta, the Trešanica, the
Neretvica River flow into the Neretva from the right, while the
Jezernica, the Živašnica (also Živanjski Potok), the
Ladjanica River, the Župski Krupac, the Bukovica, the Šištica with its Šištica Waterfall, the Konjička Bijela flow into it from the left.
Rakitnica river
Rakitnica is the main tributary of the first section of the
Neretva river known as Upper Neretva
(). The Rakitnica river formed a 26 km long canyon, of its 32 km length, that stretches between Bjelašnica and Visočica to southeast from
Sarajevo.
Lakes
Uloško lake
Boračko lake
Blatačko lake
Jablaničko lake
Jablaničko Lake () is a large artificially formed lake on the
Neretva river, right below
Konjic where the
Neretva briefly expanding into a wide valley. Rivere provided lot of fertile, agricultural land there, before lake flooded most of it.
The lake was created in 1953 after construction of large
gravitational a
hydroelectricity dam near Jablanica in central Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The lake has an irregular elongated shape. Its width varies along its length. The lake is a popular vacation destination in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Swimming, boating and especially fishing are popular activities on the lake. Many weekend cottages have been built along the shores of the lake.
There are 13 types of fish in the lake's ecosystem.
Natural heritage and protection
In dense
water system network the Neretva holds a significant position
among
of
Dinaric Alps region, regarding its divers
ecosystems and
habitats,
flora and
fauna, cultural and historic heritage, but also as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and most importantly its clean, fresh
drinking water.
Fresh water resources
One of the most valuable natural resource of Bosnia and Herzegovina is
freshwater richness
contained by an abundant wellspring and clear
, indeed, a natural treasure of great importance yet to be evaluated, acknowledge and appreciated.
From the
Drina river on the east to the Una river on the west and from the
Sava river on the north to the
Adriatic sea on the south, Bosnia and Herzegovina is genuine
freshwater reservoir.
Situated in between all these major regional rivers the Neretva basin contain most significant
portion of fresh
drinking water.
The Upper Neretva
() water is Class I purity
and almost certainly the coldest river water in the world, often as low as 7-8 degrees Celsius in the summer months.
Endemic and endangered ichthyofauna
Dinaric Alps water systems inhabit 25% of the total of 546
fish species in Europe. Watercourses of this area are inhabited by a large number of
endemic species of
fish.
The river
Neretva and its tributaries represent the main drainage system in the east
Adriatic watershed and the foremost ichthyofaunal
habitat of the region. According to Smith & Darwall (2006) the
Neretva river, together with four other areas in the
Mediterranean, has the largest number of
threatened freshwater
fish species.
Degree of
endemism in the
karst eco-region is greater than 10% of the total number of fish species. Numerous species of fish that inhabited this area live in very narrow and limited areal and are vulnerable, so they are included on the
Red List of
endangered fish and the
IUCN-2006.
Upper Neretva inhabits three
endemic species and
endangered species of fish. All of the
Endemism of Upper Neretva are rare and
endangered , the
Neretva indigenous, autochthonal
ichthyofauna.
Salmonids
Salmonids fishes from the Neretva basin show considerable variation in morphology,
ecology and behaviour. The Neretva also has many other
Endemism and fragile life forms that are near
extinction.
Among most
endangered are three
endemic species of the Neretva
trout:
Adriatic trout ()
(Salmothymus obtusirostris oxyrhinchus Steind.),
( also )
(Salmo dentex)
and
Marble trout ( also known as )
(Salmo marmoratus Cuv.).
All three Endemism trout species of the Neretva are endangered mostly due to the habitat destruction or construction of large and major dams (large as higher than 15–20 m; major as over 150–250 m)
Dam problems
The benefits brought by dams have often come at a great environmental and social cost,
as dams destroy ecosystems
and cause people to lose their homes and livelihoods.
The Neretva and two main tributaries are already harnessed, by four Hydroelectricity with Dam
Also, the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity has unveiled plans to build three more Hydroelectricity with Dam (as over 150.5 meters in height)
Moreover, the same Government Of FBiH preparing a parallel plan to form a huge National Park which include entire region of Gornja Neretva (), and within Park those three Hydroelectricity, which is unheard in the history of environmental protection. The latest idea is that the park should be divided in two, where the Neretva should be excluded from both and, in fact, become the boundary between parks.
This is a cunning plan of engineers and related ministry in Government Of FBiH and should leave the river available for the construction of three large dams, and give them hope in order to remove the fear of contradiction in the plans for environmental protection in the area and the flooding its very heart, in terms of natural values - the Neretva. Of course, such deception failed, because the concerned citizens from the local community are not given bluff, as well as concerned citizens of whole country, and its particularly strongly opposed by NGOs and other institutions and organizations that are interested in establishing the National Park of Upper Neretva towards the professional and scientific principles and not according to the needs of Hydroelectricity lobbying.[Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams, by Patrick McCully, Zed Books, London, 1996]
Dam disasters
See also
Water bodies
-
Neretva
-
Upper Neretva
-
Lađanica
-
Rakitnica
-
Boračko Lake
-
Šištica waterfall
-
Blatačko Lake
| Settlements
| Protected heritage
-
Stećci
-
Lukomir
-
Lađanica vrelo
-
Krupac vrelo
-
Rakitnica
-
Boračko Lake
-
Blatačko Lake
-
List of national parks of BiH
| Nature and culture
-
Salmo obtusirostris
-
Salmo dentex
-
Salmo marmoratus
-
Environmental impacts of dams
-
Environment and electricity generation
-
Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
-
Stećci
|
Sources
External links
