River of Sitnica
| Sitnica (Ситница) Sitnicë |
|
|---|---|
| Country | Kosovo |
| Basin features | |
| Main source | Sazlija pond, north of Uroševac, Kosovo 560 m (1,840 ft) |
| River mouth |
Ibar River, at Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo 499 m (1,637 ft) 42°54′03″N 20°52′23″E / 42.9008°N 20.8730°ECoordinates: 42°54′03″N 20°52′23″E / 42.9008°N 20.8730°E |
| Basin size | 3,129 km2 (1,208 sq mi) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Length | 90 km (56 mi) |
| Discharge |
|
The Sitnica, or Sitnicë (Albanian: Sitnicë; Serbian: Sitnica, Cyrillic: Ситница), is a 90 km-long (56 mi) river in Kosovo. It flows into the Ibar at Kosovska Mitrovica, and it is the longest river that flows completely within Kosovo's borders.
In the 14th century, during the reign of king Milutin, a canal connecting the Sazlija and the river Nerodimka was dug, creating an artificial bifurcation, since the Nerodimka flows to the south into the Lepenac river and thus belongs to the Aegean Sea drainage basin, while the Sitnica flows to the north, into the Ibar river and belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin. After World War II, the canal was covered with earth again.
The Sitnica was supposed to be the major part of the huge Ibar-Lepenac Hydrosystem, which was to regulate Ibar-Sitnica-Lepenac watercourse (including ecological protection, irrigation and power production), but the projected plan never came true.
The Sitnica originates from the Sazlija pond, north of the town of Uroševac, and it is initially called the Sazlija river itself.
The Sitnica flows generally to the north, as the main river in the Kosovo Field, on the western slopes of the Žegovac mountain (from which it receives the right tributary of Žegovska river, south of Lipljan), next to the villages of Muhadžer Talinovac, Muhadžer Babuš, Robovce (where it receives the tributary of Crnoljeva river from the left), Topličane, Gracko, Mali Alaš and the town of Lipljan. The river continues to the north between the villages Suvi Do, Skulanovo, Radevo and Batuse, as it enters the Kosovo coal basin (with the major mine, Dobri Do, right on the river), west of the provincial capital of Pristina. This is an area where the Sitnica receives some of its most important tributaries: the highly polluted Gračanka and Prištevka from the right, and the Drenica from the Drenica depression, from the left.
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Wikipedia