Destruction of

Rivers
A global problem!

includes all of the waste

materials that cannot be
naturally broken down by
water. In other
words, anything that is
added to the water, above
and beyond its capacity to
break it down, is
pollution. Pollution, in
certain circumstances, can
be caused by nature itself,
such as when water
flows through soils with
high acidities. But more
often that not, human
actions are responsible
for the pollutants that
enter the water.

What is the water

pollution?

 But the declining health of almost all

the world's major river ecosystems is a
key factor in many of the most
important symptoms of the global
environmental crisis, from the collapse
of coastal fisheries to the spread of
waterborne diseases; from steadily
worsening flood disasters to the
deterioration in drinking water supply;
from eroding shorelines to the loss of
wetlands; from the extinction of river
dolphins to the pollution of estuaries.

Fig.2

In 1992 the United

States National
Academy of Sciences'
report The
Restoration of
Aquatic Ecosystems
was unable to find
any systematic
analysis of the extent
of the destruction of
river systems in the
United States.
Fig.3

River ecosystems can be degraded

by:
Many human interventions,

Including pollution,

watershed destruction and channelization.

Many human interventions(see fig.4):

Fig.4

Including pollution(see
fig.5)

Fig.5

watershed destruction and channelization(see fig,6)

Fig.6

But it is the impact of large dams

that is now having the most
immediate and far reaching
effects. They cause huge changes
in flows, transforming the
character of such major rivers as
the Nile or the Indus(fig.7&fig.8).

Nile River(fig.7)

Indus River(fig.8)

The Use of the Rivers in Kosovo

Kosovo has a lot of rivers which can be
found in most of the parts of the land. The
rivers in Kosovo are divided in 4 main
basins and in different regions: Drini i
Bardhe, Ibri, Morava e Bins and Lepenci
(each having a sub-basin of their own).
Being located in the center of the Balkans,
Kosovos rivers flow into 3 different seas
which are: the Adriatic, the Aegean and the
Black Sea.

Rivers in Kosovo are mainly

used for drinking water,
agriculture, industry; however,
the level of pollution is being
higher and higher each day,
which is a very serious concern
for the citizens of Kosovo.
In order to get an idea of the water
(river) distribution, in particular the 4
main basins in Kosovo, the following map
shows details:

Source: Establishing of Monitoring Network on Kosovo

River (Drini I Bardhe, Marova e Binces, Lepenc and
Sitnica) [Kosova map] Retreived Oct 10, 2012 (fig.9).

Water Resources , Pollution and

Quality
Kosovo is a place with limited water
resources. There are few rivers that pass
through Kosovo, and even fewer that have
their sources in Kosovo. The number of
natural lakes is also very low. Being in such
a state, Kosovo is in great need for drinkable
water, which especially escalates during the
heat of the summer months, where there is
almost no rainfall to feed the temporary
river, and there is not enough water for

Water supply works in Prishtina

(fig.10).

Even though the problem of water

supply has been very acute and
grows more and more from year to
year, the citizens of Kosovo create
an additional problem of polluting
water, thereby decreasing the
already low amount of drinkable

Water Quality
Kosovo has a lot
of problems with
rivers pollution,
this problem is
due to nonexisting
wastewater
treatment and
waste disposal.
The lowland
rivers are the
rivers that have
the most

In Kosovo only about 28% of all the homes are connected to a

sewage system. Makes you think what happens to all the other
72%? Yes its just what you think, that sewage is disposed into
different downstream rivers, contaminated surfaces and ground
water and this usually leads to wells having very poor drinkable
water (Kosovo State of The Environment Report, 2003,fig,11.).

Fig,11

Drini i Bardh
Drini i Bardh river, is known to
be the longest river in Kosova;
which has length of (122 km),
unfortunately it is being
destroyed form the high
exploitation of its bed, done
form the private companies
(using for private needs) that
are taking quartz gravel from it.
This river continues being with
no protecting from the
government . Besides
damaging the natural beauty of
this river, there are recognized
many other problems that were
caused: problems with
ecosystem, damage of
agricultural lands, water Source: Drini I Bardhe (2011) Retrieved Nov. 02,

In the future we have to do

more to protect our
rivers , because our life is
depending by them.
If we dont have caution
for our ambient the earth
will go forward destruction
, and the primary factor on
this is human being.
We have to do more to purify them with
hydro factory , who take care about
maintenance of the pollution water .

A presentation in English
Language;
Date:25/11/2014

Worked by:
Valmir Daqaj
Edon Morina