Geography of Serbia - Hydrology

Hydrology

Practically the entire territory (92%) of Serbia belongs to the Danube (Black Sea) drainage basin, an area in Kosovo (5%) belongs to the Adriatic drainage basin, chiefly through the White Drin river, and the rest (3%) in Kosovo and southern Serbia belongs to Aegean basin, chiefly via the Vardar river.

Apart from the Danube, which flows 588 km through Serbia or as a border river (with Croatia on its northwestern flow and Romania on southeast), the chief rivers are its tributaries Sava (incoming from West), Tisa (incoming from North), Drina (incoming from South, forming a natural border with Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Morava; only the latter flowing (almost) entirely through Serbia. Their tributaries form a dense network of smaller rivers and creeks, covering most of the country.

Due to the configuration of the terrain, natural lakes are sparse and small; most of them are located in Vojvodina, like the glacial lake Palić or numerous oxbow lakes along river flows. However, there are numerous artificial lakes, mostly due to hydroelectric dams, the biggest being Đerdap on the Danube, Perućac on the Drina and Vlasina Lake.

Abundance of relatively unpolluted surface waters and numerous underground natural and mineral water sources of high water quality presents a chance for export and economy improvement; however, more extensive exploitation and production of bottled water began only recently. Despite this, many Serbian cities still suffer from water supply problems, due to mismanagement and low investments in the past, as well as water pollution (like the pollution of the Ibar River from the Trepča zinc-lead combinate, affecting the city of Kraljevo, or the presence of natural arsenic in underground waters in Zrenjanin).

The hydroenergetic potential of Serbia is around 17,000 GWh, of which around 10,000 GWh (60%) is utilized in power plants, chiefly big ones. The remaining unused potential can be realized using small and medium power plants (<25 MW), whose building by the private sector is seen as a chance for improvement of Serbia's economy and energy reliability.

Serbia also has a huge geothermal potential, which is only partially and sporadically utilized. The use of geothermal waters is chiefly for balneological purposes: there are around 60 spas, which are seen as a great chance for improvement of the tourism sector.