The Ralja ( sr-Cyrl, Раља) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the

Šumadija Šumadija (, sr-Cyrl, Шумадија) is a geographical region in the central part of Serbia. The area used to be heavily covered with forests, hence the name (from ''šuma'' 'forest'). The city of Kragujevac is the administrative center of the ...

region of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. It is a 51 km long left

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

to the

Jezava The Jezava ( sr-Cyrl, Језава) is a river in central Serbia. Formerly a distributary of the Great Morava that flowed into the Danube in Smederevo at the Smederevo Fortress, its upper course was separated from the Great Morava by a dam after ...

, a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

of the

Great Morava The Great Morava ( sr, Велика Морава, Velika Morava, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia. Etymology According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies ...

river. It also gives its name to the surrounding Šumadija's

subregion A subregion is a part of a larger region or continent and is usually based on location. Cardinal directions, such as south are commonly used to define a subregion. United Nations subregions The United Nations Statistics Division, Statistics ...

of Ralja.

Course

The Ralja originates from the northern part of the

Kosmaj Kosmaj (Serbian Cyrillic: Космај, ) is a mountain south of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. With an elevation of 626 meters, it is the highest point of the entire Belgrade City area and is nicknamed one of two "Belgrade mountains" (the othe ...

mountain, north of the village of

Velika Ivanča Velika Ivanča ( sr-cyr, Велика Иванча, ) is a village situated in Mladenovac municipality in Serbia. The village is southeast of Belgrade. 2013 Velika Ivanča shooting Velika Ivanča was the site of one of the deadliest spree shoo ...

, in the

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest city ...

municipality of the City of

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. Almost from the source, the river valley is a route for the Belgrade-

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

railway. At the villages of Popović and

Mali Požarevac Mali Požarevac ( sr-cyrl, Мали Пожаревац) is a village located in the municipality of Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and Li ...

, the Ralja turns straight to the east for the rest of its flow and also from this point, the Belgrade-Niš highway joins the railroad. As it flows next to the Belgrade suburbs of Dražanj,

Umčari Umčari ( Serbian Cyrillic: Умчари) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Grocka. Umčari is located in the southeastern part of the municipality, in the northern Šumadi ...

and

Živkovac Živkovac ( Serbian Cyrillic: Живковац) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Grocka. Živkovac is located in the northern Šumadija region and it is the easternmost s ...

, the Ralja divides the

Podunavlje Podunavlje ( sr-Cyrl, Подунавље) is the name of the Danube river basin parts located in Serbia (Vojvodina, Belgrade and Eastern Serbia) and Croatia (Slavonia, Syrmia, and Baranya). Podunavlje is located on the southern edge of Pannonia ...

region from the Ralja region of the low Šumadija, and leaves the City of Belgrade area at the village of Malo Orašje. After the villages of Binovac,

Kolari Kolari is a municipality of Finland at the Swedish border, which follows the Torne River, the longest free-flowing river in Europe. It is located in the region of Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which ...

, Vrbovac and Ralja, the river separates from the highway turning north at the village of

Vranovo Vranovo is a village in the municipality of Smederevo, Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern an ...

and empties into the one of several arms of the

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According to ...

's suburb of

Radinac Radinac ( sr-cyr, Радинац) is a village in the municipality of Smederevo, Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 5,428 people. It is home to Serbia's only operating steel mill - Železara Smederevo, previously ...

Characteristics

The Ralja drains an area of 310

km² Square kilometre ( International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square kilometer (American spelling), symbol km2, is a multiple of the square metre, the SI unit of area or surface area. 1 km2 is equ ...

, belongs to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

, and is not navigable. In July 2021, city announced that project for flash flood warning system is being applied on several rivers and streams on the territory of Belgrade, including the watershed of Ralja. Hydrological stations and

rain gauge A rain gauge (also known as udometer, pluvia metior, pluviometer, ombrometer, and hyetometer) is an instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation over a predefined area, over a period o ...

s will be placed to monitor the water level. Ralja is known as relatively small stream, which however floods the surroundings during the heavy rains. In the lower section, Ralja is even more polluted, as there it receives the discharge canal of the Smederevo Ironworks wastewaters. Measurements from October 2021 and August 2022 showed high and prohibited levels of cadmium, lead, copper and zinc in river's mud. The water is completely red in this section.

References

Sources

* ''Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija'', Third edition (1985); Prosveta; * Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): ''Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije''; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; {{ISBN, 86-01-02651-6 Rivers of Serbia

Course

Characteristics

See also

References

Sources