Test Area Table and Reporting

Water Supply and Sewerage

Association of

(SHUKALB), Albania (FB11)

Tirane 2015

Lead Author/s Alban Kuriqi Lead Authors Coordinator Arlinda Ibrahimllari, Anisa Aliaj Contributor/s Alban Kuriqi Date last release 2015-11-05 State of document Final

The project is co-funded by the European Union, Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. GENERAL INFORMATION ...... 2 1.1 Drini River Sub-basin(sub-basin shared by Albania, FYR Macedonia and & Montenegro) ...... 2 1.2 Hydrology and hydrogeology ...... 3 1.3 Drini Bardhe Sub-basin (Serbia & Montenegro / Albania)...... 3 1.4 Drini Zi River Sub-basin (FYR Macedonia / Albania) ...... 4 2. TABLE :TEST AREAS IN ALBANIA ...... 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 7

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Drini River Basin boundary ...... 2

Figure 2. Drini Bardhe Basin boundary ...... 4

Figure 3. Drini Zi Basin boundary ...... 5

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1. GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1 Drini River Sub-basin(sub-basin shared by Albania, FYR Macedonia and Serbia & Montenegro) Albania is divided into six river basins, each one having a River Basin Council (RBC) and a River Basin Agency (RBA). This structure could be conducive, in principle, to counteract the current fragmentation of water resources management and promote an effective IWRM Strategy. With Albania being a candidate country for EU accession and, as such, needs to approach the fulfilment of prescriptions in a number of EU directives related to Water Management. River Basin Agencies (RBAs) are the cornerstone in the integrated management of water resources and have to be not only in place, but also having sufficient capacity to be effective. The river system is the largest river of Albania and collects water from the Adriatic portion of the watershed in Serbia & Montenegro (as Beli Drin river) and in the south from the border region with FYR Macedonia (Lake Prespa / Lake Ohrid drains into Crn Drim river); its total basin encompasses about 14,173 km² (without both lakes) (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Drini River Basin boundary

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The Drin River (285 km) is the most constant river of Albania: Fed by melting snows from the northern and eastern mountains (mean elevation at 971 m asl.) and by more evenly distributed seasonal precipitation, its flow does not have the extremely varying characteristics of nearly all other Albanian rivers. The mouth of Drin river into the is located south of Shkodra near the city of Lezha but most of its water runs through an arm into Buna river near Shkodra.

1.2 Hydrology and hydrogeology

Water flows out of Lake Ohrid (average discharge: 22 cu m/s) into the River near Struga, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The River is a major transboundary tributary of the Black Drin. The river runs 149 km (as Drin i Zi) until Kukës, Albania, where it joins the White Drin River (136 km long). Their confluence, the Drin, flows further westward and discharges into the Adriatic Sea. The old Drin channel discharges into the Adriatic south of the Buna/ River near the city of Lezhe, but the Drin's major channel is the 11-km Drinasa, which joins the Buna/Bojana just 1 km beyond the latter's outlet from Skadar/Shkoder Lake near the city of Shkodra. The Drin delta is located 20 km south of the Buna/Bojana Delta. The Drin River Basin is characterized by mountainous relief, with a mean elevation of 971 m a.s.l. (the highest peaks are over 2,500 m), and flat land in the coastal area.The White Drin is hydraulically connected with the shared karstic Beli Drim/Drini Bardhe aquifer.

1.3 Drini Bardhe Sub-basin (Serbia & Montenegro / Albania)

Along its length of about 136 km, the “Drini Bardhe/White Drin” drains a karstic region of nearly 4,964 km² within Albania and 4,360 km² in S&M (Kosovo) at a mean elevation 862 m (Figure 2).

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Figure 2. Drini Bardhe Basin boundary

Municipal and industrial pollution is coming from various towns like Pec (120,000 inhabitants 1991), (80,000 inhabitants 1998), Dakovica, and Orahovac. There is no wastewater treatment in Albania and the sewage in discharged in rivers in uncontrol-led manner. This causes various pollution problems. Flooding of the plain of Drin river is another frequent problem especially in the winter period (increased by deforestation of the mountains) for the Shkodra and Lezha municipalities.

1.4 Drini Zi River Sub-basin (FYR Macedonia / Albania)

The “Drini Zi/Black Drin” river sub-basin drains lake Ohrid (controlled outflow since 1962) and flows north into the Adriatic Sea (mean elevation 1,152 m). It crosses near Debar the border to Albania and continues as Drini i Zi river (5,885 km² and 121 km long in Albania) (Figure 3).

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Figure 3. Drini Zi Basin boundary

It covers 3,840 km2 (excluding lake Prespa and lake Ohrid) of FYR Macedonia, at an average elevation of 1,100 m and with a total annual discharge of 1,502million m³. Two large reservoirs (Globochica and Spilje) have been constructed in this river basin on FYROM side, another 4 dams and 3 reservoirs (Fierze, Koman and Zadeje) at the lower Drim in Albania – all with the main purpose of hydroelectric power (providing over 90% of Albanian electricity).The Drini waters join in the main arm with Buna river (effluent of lake Skadar) near the city of Shkodra.

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2. TABLE :TEST AREAS IN ALBANIA

Name of test area Drini Basin WR Related City* Shkodra Geographical coordinates 42.020 N 19.300 E Altitudinal range 0 m to 2,500 m Size 14,173 km² (5,973 km² are on Albanian territory) Morphology Hills, Mountainous, Wetland Aquifer type Limestone formation, accom-panied by karst phenomena in some parts of th eriver Surface water interaction Yes Geology sedimentary rocks, classical Karst Mean annual precipitation Average annual rainfall Eastern part: 934 mm zone: 1,543 mm Western part: 2,239 mm Seasonal distribution Winter Spring Summer Autumn E: 360mm 240mm 120mm 214mm V:524mm 365mm 184mm 470mm W:734mm 530mm 240mm 735mm Mean annual temperature -11.5-37.5 15 Soil types clastic and flysch deposits from the early and middle Triassic eras, eruptive rocks of the middle Triassic and in the north-eastern part, flysch deposits from the Late Cretaceous era Land uses Agriculture 30.26 % Forestry 21.76% Artificial Surface Na Water bodies 1 Protection areas Water protection zone Water abstraction 60l/s *Cities and rural settlements receive their drinking water supply from the test area.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

D. Faloutsos, V. Constantianos, M. Scoullos. Management of the “extended” Transboundary Drin Basin. Technical, Athens: Global Water Partnership- Mediterranean Secretariat, 2008.

Regional Dialogue for Transboundary Waters Resources Management in the Southeastern . 2012. http://www.twrm-med.net/southeastern- europe/supported-processes-and-projects/transboundary-river-basin- management/shared-surface-water-bodies/copy_of_map/new-river-basins/drin- river-basin-1. Fatbardh SALLAKU, Bujar HUQI, Odeta TOTA, Mitat MEMA. “Dynamics of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Albania:Environmental Consequences and Policy Response.” Research Journal of Agricultural Science 41, no. 2 (2009): 190- 199. Smith, David G. Albania’s Second National Communication to the Conference of Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Technical, Tirana: Republic of Albania Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Administration, 2009. Uran Abazi, Astrit Balliu. “Evaluation of irrigation water quality across major water resources in Albania during a five-year monitoring process.” Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment 10, no. 2 (2012): 919-924.

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The project is co-funded by the European Union, Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance