The Bovilla reservoir ( sq, Ujëmbledhësi i Bovillës) is a reservoir in
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
, approximately northeast of
Tirana
Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
The reservoir is formed by a dam of the river Tërkuzë, a tributary of the
Ishëm
Ishëm is a former municipality in the Durrës County, northwestern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Durrës. The population at the 2011 census was 5,001.Shkallë e Bovillës canyon between Mount Maja e Gomtitit (1268 m) and Mount Mali i Bjeshit (1239 m). The dam stands at the entrance to this canyon and is made from local
conglomerate
Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to:
* Conglomerate (company)
* Conglomerate (geology)
* Conglomerate (mathematics)
In popular culture:
* The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes
** Co ...
, gravel and sand. It is 91 m high and 130 m long.
Construction work originally began in 1988, but stopped with the collapse of communism. In October 1993, work was resumed thanks to the support of the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
state. After the end of construction in 1996, the lake took until 1998 to fill and begin to serve its purpose.
The water level varies over the course of the year by 7–10 metres, with the high water mark being reached during the rainy winter months. Measurements from 2006 to 2008 showed the greatest depth was around 45 metres. The difference from the original depth of 53 metres must be due to the sediment brought down by the river from upstream.
The Tërkuzë provides around 105,000,000 m3 of water per year from a catchment area of roughly . The annual water consumption is around 78,000,000 m3 - roughly the size of the reservoir. Roughly 1,800 litres of water are delivered to the processing plant from the reservoir per second, through a steel pipe (roughly 50 to 57 million m3 per year). In addition to this
surface water
Surface water is water located on top of land forming terrestrial (inland) waterbodies, and may also be referred to as ''blue water'', opposed to the seawater and waterbodies like the ocean.
The vast majority of surface water is produced by prec ...
, the drinking water supply of Tirana is supplemented by natural underground wells and
artesian well
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...
s, to meet a required need of 2.8 m3 per second (2009 estimate). The steel pipeline linking the reservoir to the processing plant in Kodra Kuqe, north of Tirana, is around 90 cm in diameter. Some of the water in the reservoir is also used for irrigation.
Nature preservation
The reservoir is located within the
Mount Dajt
Dajti () standing at above sea level, is a mountain and national park on the edge of Tirana, Albania. The Dajti belongs to the Skanderbeg range. In winter, the mountain is often covered with snow and is a popular retreat for the local population ...
National Park, a bit south of Shtamë Pass National Park. The cliff faces around the canyon and the dam offer good climbing prospects. Swimming in the reservoir is forbidden. There were only a few kinds of fish in the lake: the
Schneider
Schneider may refer to:
Hospital
* Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel
People
* Schneider (surname)
Companies and organizations
* G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company
* Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of th ...
(''Alburnoides bipunctatus'') and
Barbus
''Barbus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. The type species of ''Barbus'' is the common barbel, first described as ''Cyprinus barbus'' and now named ''Barbus barbus''. ''Barbus'' is the namesake genus of the subfamily B ...
carp were the most common. Large numbers of
grass carp
The grass carp (''Ctenopharyngodon idella'') is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian ...
have been caught by fishermen. The
silver carp
The silver carp (''Hypophthalmichthys molitrix'') is a species of freshwater cyprinid fish, a variety of Asian carp native to China and eastern Siberia, from the Amur River drainage in the north to the Xi Jiang River drainage in the south. Alt ...
(''Hypophthalmichthys molitrix'') has been repeatedly introduced to improve the water quality.
Nine remote villages with over five thousand inhabitants are scattered in the hills around the reservoir. The inhabitants derive their livelihoods primarily from agriculture. About 400 families had to be resettled in order to create the reservoir. They received compensation for their land, but the movement was still violently opposed.
In September 2001, a bad odour and taste were first noticed in the water from the reservoir. Subsequently, a thorough investigation determined that the water quality was basically good. The source of the odour was suggested to be oxygen-dependent
actinobacteria
The ''Actinomycetota'' (or ''Actinobacteria'') are a phylum of all gram-positive bacteria. They can be terrestrial or aquatic. They are of great economic importance to humans because agriculture and forests depend on their contributions to so ...
and
streptomyces
''Streptomyces'' is the largest genus of Actinomycetota and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae. Over 500 species of ''Streptomyces'' bacteria have been described. As with the other Actinomycetota, streptomycetes are gram-positive, ...
. Experts suggested measures to reduce the turbidity of the water: reforestation to reduce erosion, a protected area along the shore of the reservoir, and processing the wastewater from the settlements and farms in the surrounding area.