Lake Vrutci ( sr, Језеро Врутци) is an

artificial lake A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

in western

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

, in the municipality of

Užice Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the banks of the river Đetinja. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 59,747. The C ...

. The lake was created in 1983 by damming the

Đetinja Đetinja ( sr-Cyrl, Ђетиња; ) is a river in western Serbia, a long natural but shorter headstream of the Zapadna Morava River. The Đetinja river valley serves as a route for the Belgrade-Bar railway. Name According to the legend which ...

River, near the village of Vrutci. It was created with the purpose of supplying water to the city of Užice. It is narrow, around 7 km long, and lies at an altitude of about 700 m. In December 2013, a toxic

cyanobacterial Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blue ...

bloom caused by '' Planktothrix rubescens'' was observed in the lake, whose water was immediately banned for human consumption, and soon after for bathing and fishing. The city was left without water supplies for several days, when an emergency link was built to an alternative source, Sušičko vrelo reservoir. A long-term treatment for revival of the lake started, but the toxic algae are still present in the water. Only in February 2019, after the modernization of the water plant was finished, the water from Vrutci became appropriate for public usage.

References

Užice Vrutci {{Serbia-geo-stub

See also

References