Drina River Basin Integrated Water Resources Management

by Dejan Divac and Miodrag Milovanović

abstract of the article presented at the XII International Conference "Danube - River of Cooperation" (October, 11-14 2001) and published in Danubius No. 1-2/2001

The Drina River is the greatest and the most important tributary of the Sava River. The greatest part of its catchment area is situated on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, about 62% (the Republic of Montenergo 31,5%, the Republic of Serbia 30,5 %), while 37% of the catchment belongs to the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the greatest part to the Republic of Srpska), and less than 1% to Albania. However, the largest amount of water, 2/3 of the total discharge at the river mouth, originates from Montenegro.

First of all for the hydroelectric power production, then for other purposes as well (municipal water supply, irrigation, industrial water supply, tourism and recreation, fishing, etc.). The Drina River Basic Project made at the end of the fifties and beginning of the sixties defined the water usage concept that remained almost unchanged in later plans and documents. An extremely unsteady discharge is the main problem which limits the Drina water use, so that, at the very beginning, it has been decided that it is necessary to construct a great number of large capacity reservoirs for the optimal use of the Drina river water. Several reservoirs have been constructed up to now in the Drina watershed, mainly for the hydroelectric power production. It is therefore essential to analyze in detail the existing solutions for all the problems presented, in order to complete the picture on the water resources development issues of the Drina River and to define the optimal development programme. In order to use the important water resources of this basin, a complex water management system shall be implemented including considerations of both technical and institutional aspects. The decision support tool within the water management scheme shall comprise both wide information base and advanced assessment tools. The decision support tool shall analyse the development alternatives in terms of dam design, water reservoir control, water transfer capacities and costs-benefit assessment.

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