Jegrička

Infobox River | river_name = Jegrička (Јегричка)

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caption = The Jegrička near Žabalj
origin = Bačka region, south of the Pivnice village, Vojvodina, Serbia
mouth = Tisa river, west of Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, Serbia
basin_countries = Serbia
length = 65 km
elevation = 76 m
discharge =
watershed =

The Jegrička (Serbian Cyrillic: Јегричка), is a river in northern Serbia, in the Bačka region of the Vojvodina province, a 65 km-long left tributary to the Tisa river, often erroneously referred to as the "longest river in Vojvodina".

The Jegrička originates south of the Pivnice village, in the central Bačka and flows in the eastern direction whole of its course. It passes next to the villages of Despotovo, Ravno Selo, Zmajevo and Sirig, parallel to the Canal Danube-Tisa-Danube and Mali Kanal.

Near the town of Temerin, the Jegrička forms an arc to the north, flows next to the Gospođinci village and into the marshes of Žabalj to the south, where its waters are used for the Jegrička fish pond, with an area of 0.98 square kilometers. The river continues eastward, on the northern side of the "Jurišna humka" hillock (88 m) and empties into the Tisa.

The Jegrička used to be a slow, intermittent water flow, connecting a series of marshes and bogs which in the periods of high waters spilled over and flew like a real river, reaching the Tisa. Today, the complete first section of the river bed (35 km) is channeled. In the next 20 km the river is preserved in its natural shape while the last 15 km are used for fish ponds. The reason why is the river so slow and lazy is extremely small inclination in its watershed, only 3 m on the course of 65 km (the river springs out at an altitude of 76 m and empties on 73 m).

Now and then, articles in newspapers or on TV pop-up claiming the Jegrička as the longest river within the borders of Vojvodina. However, the Krivaja, Čik and Mostonga rivers are longer (109, 95 and 70 km, respectively), and, statistically, the Jegrička has been classified as a canal, not a river. In 2003 the river was placed under the preliminary environmental protection.

References

* Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): "Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije"; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6
* Decision of the preliminary protection of the natural property Jegrička, Institute for natural protection, December 17, 2003