- White Drin
Infobox River | river_name = White Drin
Drini i Bardhë
caption = Bridge "Ura e Fshejte" on the White Drin river
origin =Žljeb mountain, north ofPejë ,Kosovo
mouth = withBlack Drin forms the Drin, atKukës ,Albania
basin_countries =Kosovo ,Albania
length = convert|175|km|mi|abbr=on
elevation =
discharge = convert|56|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on|lk=on
watershed = convert|4964|km2|sqmi|abbr=onThe White Drin ( _sq. Drini i Bardhë, _sr. Бели Дрим) is a river in
Kosovo and northernAlbania , a convert|175|km|mi|adj=on-long headstream of the Drin.Dukagjini
The Kosovo section of the White Drin flows entirely in the semi-
karst Dukagjini part ofKosovo , in an arc-shaped convert|156|km|mi|adj=on-long course. The river originates in the southern slopes of theŽljeb mountain, north of the town ofPejë . The stream is originally a sinking river which eventually springs out from the strong well and falls down as a convert|25|m|ft|adj=on-highwaterfall near the village of Radovac.The White Drin first flows to the east, next to the spa of Banja e Pejës and the villages of Banjica, Trbuhovac and Zlokućan. The rest of the course is through the very fertile and densely populated central section of Metohija (
Podrima region), but oddly, there is not even one large settlement on the river itself, despite many smaller villages on the river. The largest cities are kilometers away from the river (Pejë ,Gjakova ,Prizren ) while some smaller townsKlina are closer to it.The White Drin receives many relatively long tributaries: Lumi I Bardhë, Lumbardhi i Deçanit, Prue potok, and
Erenik from the right; Istočka, Klina, Mirusha, Rimnik, Toplluga and Lumbardhi i Prizrenit from the left.The Kosovar part of the White Drin basin comprises convert|4360|km2|sqmi|abbr=on. Here the waters of the river are used for waterworks of the big nearby towns, irrigation and power production (especially its right tributaries). At the Vrbnica-Shalqin
border crossing , the river enters the easternAlbania n region ofTrektan .Trektan
The Albanian section of the river is convert|19|km|mi|abbr=on long with the drainage area of convert|604|km2|sqmi|abbr=on. There are no settlements on the river and it receives the
Lumë river from the left (which also originates in Metohija, from several rivers in the Gora region). Finally, the White Drin reaches the town ofKukës where it meets theBlack Drin and forms the Drin, which flows into theAdriatic Sea ; thus the White Drin belongs to the Adriatic Seadrainage basin . The river is not navigable.The entire Albanian section (and part of the Kosovan) is flooded by the artificial Fierza lake ("see Drin controversy").
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
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