The Česma is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in central

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, a left tributary of the river Lonja-Trebež. It is long, and its catchment area is . It is created by merging

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s ''Grđevica'' and ''Barna'' at near the village of Pavlovac in the municipality of Veliki Grđevac. The Česma basin is fan-shaped and formed by a number of

s rising on the slopes of Bilogora and Moslavačka Gora hills. Southern sides of Bilogora slightly goes downhill, rugged with numerous

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

s and gullies, steeply and deeply cut in. On the sides appear numerous springs, whose flow reduces or dries up during the dry part of the year. It has a small drop (small difference in altitude between the source and the mouth) which was causing frequent

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

s before the regulation of the riverbed. The area around the

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

of Česma till a hundred years ago was subject of flooding, which is why it was

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

y. After that, Česma river and its

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' 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 into which the ...

was channelized, embankments were built for flood protection, and the soil is dried to obtain

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

as well as the fight against

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. At the site of former

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s now are fish ponds that supply water from streams that flows into the Česma river. These ponds are one of the last refuge of wading birds between the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

and

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

rivers. Along Česma river there are several major

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

complexes. North of Česma fish pond — ''ribnjačastvo Dubrava'', and along the southern coast fish ponds — ''Siščani'', ''Blatnica'' and ''Narta''. Both complexes are spread at about 5 kilometers along the course Česma river, and environment are similar. They are about 5 kilometers away to each other. The total area covered by commercial fish ponds is .Prostorni plan Bjelovarsko – bilogorske županije
(Spatial plan of

Bjelovar-Bilogora County Bjelovar-Bilogora County (; ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in central Croatia. The central city of Bjelovar was first mentioned in 1413, and it only gained importance when a new fort was built in 1756 to defend against the Ottoman Empire, O ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cesma Rivers of Croatia