The Blagoevgradska Bistritsa ( bg, Благоевградска Бистрица) is a river in south-western

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, a left tributary of the Struma. It is 41 km long and drains the southwestern parts of the

Rila Rila ( bg, Рила, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Mus ...

mountain range.

Geography

Blagoevgradska Bistritsa takes its source about 300 m southeast of the summit Golyan Mechi Vrah (2,617 m) in southwestern Rila at an altitude of 2,546 m. It initially flows a mountain stream south to Macedonia refuge, where it turns west in a deep valley covered with old-growth coniferous forests where trees reach heights of almost 60 m and protected within Parangalitsa biosphere reserve. The river then continues to flow westwards in a deep steep valley until the village of Bistritsa, where it takes a turn to the southwest through an eroded valley. Then it forms a large alluvial cone, on which the city of

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centre ...

is situated, and flows into the Struma at an altitude of 321 m, in Blagoevgrad's neighbourhood Strumsko. Its catchment area covers a territory of 234 km² and represents 1.35% of Struma's total drainage basin. The largest tributary is Slavova Reka. Blagoevgradska Bistritsa has predominantly snow-rain feed with high water in late spring and early summer (May–June) and low water in winter (February). The average annual flow is 3.17 m³/s at the mouth and 2.96 m³/s at Bistritsa. There are two settlements along the river — the city of Blagoevgrad and the village of Bistritsa, both in

Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province ( bg, област Благоевград, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Маке� ...

. Its waters in the lower reaches are used for irrigation. Common fish species in the river include

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

, Struma barbel and

European chub ''Squalius cephalus'' is a European species of freshwater fish in the carp family Cyprinidae. It frequents both slow and moderate rivers, as well as canals and still waters of various kinds. This species is referred to as the common chub, Europe ...

Citations

References

* {{cite book , ref={{harvid, Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria, 1980 , title = Географски речник на България , trans-title = Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria , last1 = Мичев (Michev) , first1 = Николай (Nikolay) , last2 = Михайлов (Mihaylov) , first2 = Цветко (Tsvetko) , last3 = Вапцаров (Vaptsarov) , first3 = Иван (Ivan) , last4 = Кираджиев (Kiradzhiev) , first4 = Светлин (Svetlin) , chapter = , year = 1980 , language = Bulgarian , publisher = Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura) , location = София (Sofia) , isbn = Rivers of Bulgaria Landforms of Blagoevgrad Province Rila