Drenica (river)

Drenica
Location
Country	Kosovo
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Carraleva mountain, northwest of Shtime, Kosovo
Mouth
• location	Sitnica, southwest of Kosovo, Kosovo
• coordinates	42.6158°N 21.0686°E / 42.6158; 21.0686
Length	50 km (31 mi)
Basin size	447 km2 (173 sq mi)
Basin features
Progression	Sitnica→ Ibar→ West Morava→ Great Morava→ Danube→ Black Sea

The Drenica (Albanian: Drenica; Serbian Cyrillic: Дреница) is a river in Kosovo, a 50 km (31 mi) long left tributary to the Sitnica river. It flows entirely within Kosovo and gives its name to the surrounding Drenica region.

Overview

Originating from two streams in the northern part of Carraleva Mountain, beneath the Breshenc hill (1046 m), the Drenica river takes shape and it originally flows to the north. It is known as Llapushnik until it reaches Rusinovc village, where it enters the Drenica basin. Moving northwest of Poklek village, it enters the mountainous region via the Dobrosheve - Grabovc forest glen. Eventually, at Vragoli village, it merges with the Sitnica river.

The river's course is divided into three sections: the upper flow extends until Poklek, the middle flow spans from Poklek to Bardh i Madh, and the lower flow continues from there until it converges with the Sitnica river.

The Drenica basin experiences an annual average temperature of 9.6 °C and receives a median annual rainfall of 659.7 mm.

The Drenica belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin, drains an area of 447 km² (173 sq mi) and it is not navigable.

References

• Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
• Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6