Bistricë (definite: Bistrica) 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 southwestern

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. It ends in the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...

Etymology

The name Bistrica comes from Slavic, meaning "clear (water)". Other toponyms including "Bistrica" in Balkan countries indicate the Slavic origin of the toponym. Albanian Rivers

Geography

Bistricë starts from Mali i Gjerë (also known as ''Sopot'') in

Finiq Finiq (, sq-definite, Finiqi, ) is a settlement, considered a town or village, and municipality in Vlorë County, in southern Albania located 8 km from the Ionian Sea and 20 km north of the Greek border. It was formed at the 2015 local g ...

municipality directing initially versus south-west. The main source is near Krongj ( "The Blue Eye" source), also gathering other sources from the nearby villages of Pecë, Kardhikaq, Velahovë, and other smaller brooks. It passes through

Mesopotam Mesopotam ( sq-definite, Mesopotami; - ''Mesopotamos'') is a village and a former commune in Vlorë County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Finiq. The population at the 2011 cens ...

and

municipalities, parallel with the

Sarandë Sarandë (; sq-definite, Saranda; ) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Sarandë Municipality. Geographically, the city is located on an open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea within the Mediterrane ...

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

road. Initially the river ended in Lake Butrint, which connects with the Ionian sea through the

Channel of Vivari The Vivari Channel (Albanian language, Albanian: Kanali i Butrintit, also known as Butrinto River) links Lake Butrint in the extreme south of Albania with the Straits of Corfu, and forms a border of the peninsula of Butrint. The natural channel f ...

. In 1958, it was deviated as ''Çukë channel'' straight to the sea. The river is 25 km long.

Economy and tourism

The river is not navigable. There is an

artificial lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

with the same name () built on its basin, and three hydro-power stations built in the '60. The river's waters are used to a certain extent as a supply for the nearby fields of Vurg area. All the stations passed through the privatization process from 2010 with plenty of controversies. A well known touristic place is the " Azure Eye", often referred as "Blue Eye" (), a spring tributary to Bistrica river near the village named Krongj, with a rich flora and fauna.

Sources

*Sjöberg, Örjan. "A Contribution to the Geography of Hydro-Electric Power Generation in Albania", Osterreichische Osthefte ienna 29, No. 1, 1987, 5-27. ISSN 0029-9375 *Mevlan Kabos; Eshref Pumo; Farudin Krutaj. "Gjeografia fizike e Shqipërisë : në dy vëllime", Qendra e Studimeve Gjeografike (Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë), 1990–1991, 112. OCLC 38055712

References

External links