Bolečica
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The Bolečica ( sr-Cyrl, Болечица) is a short river in north-central
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, a 12 km-long right tributary to the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
. During its entire flow it runs through the suburban section of
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
and despite being short it flows through the three Belgrade's municipalities, next to the half dozen of suburbs of Belgrade (giving its name to one of them) with a total population of 35,000 and is a route to important roads.


Course

Bolečica originates in the northern, low
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 t ...
region, between two "Belgrade mountains",
Avala Avala ( sr-cyr, Авала, ) is a List of mountains in Serbia, mountain in Serbia, overlooking Belgrade. It is situated in the south-eastern corner of the city and provides a great panoramic view of Belgrade, Vojvodina and Šumadija, as the sur ...
and
Kosmaj Kosmaj (Serbian Cyrillic: Космај, ) is a mountain south of Belgrade. 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 other being the mountain o ...
, on the slopes of the Begaljica Hill, at an altitude of 105 meters. Originally, it flows to the north along the eastern slopes of the Avala, crossing between the municipalities of
Grocka Grocka ( sr-cyr, Гроцка, ) or Grocka na Dunavu ( sr-cyr, Гроцка на Дунаву, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2022 census results, the municipality has 82,810 inhabitants. L ...
and
Voždovac Voždovac ( sr-Cyrl, Вождовац, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2022 census results, the municipality has a population of 174,864 inhabitants. The municipality is located in the south ...
, next to the villages of
Vrčin Vrčin (Serbian language, Serbian Cyrillic: Врчин) is a List of Belgrade neighborhoods, suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Grocka. Name Historians Dušan J. Popović and Vladimir Ćorovi ...
and Zuce, where it receives the ''Vranovac'' creek from the right and enters the valley of Bubanj Potok where it marks the eastern border of the woods of Stepin Lug, turns to the north-east through the southernmost tip of the municipality of Zvezdara (for some 300 meters) and receives two more creeks from the left, ''Bubanj Potok'' and ''Zavojnička reka''. Bolečica continues through the southern section of
Leštane Leštane ( sr-cyr, Лештане) is a suburban settlement in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Grocka. Location Leštane is located 15 km east of Belgrade, originally further away from the major roads. As the settlement e ...
, where it receives the creek of ''Kaluđerički potok'' from the left and forms the border between the four suburbs area: Leštane, Boleč,
Ritopek Ritopek (Serbian Cyrillic: Ритопек, ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Grocka, 20 km east of Belgrade and 19 km west of the municipal seat, on the right bank of the Danube, acros ...
and
Vinča Vinča ( sr-cyr, Винча, ) is a List of Belgrade neighborhoods, suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is part of the municipality of Grocka. Vinča-Belo Brdo, an important archaeological site that gives its name to the Neolithic Vinča c ...
(where it receives the creek of ''Makački potok'' from the left), where it empties into the Danube by a small
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
at an altitude of 68 meters, just east of Belo Brdo, the archeological find of the Vinča culture.


Characteristics

The majority of the Bolečica's flow has been channeled, mostly in the Bubanj Potok-Leštane section. For that purpose, the river bed has been concreted and moved to the west, so the river is now further away from Boleč, which was named after the river. It enabled for a usually minor water flow to conduct abundantly larger quantities of water during heavy rains and floods. However, the final 3 kilometers of the river, through Vinča, has not been channeled, so with the growth of the Danube's level, the water overflows the estuary preventing the waters drained by Bolečica to flow into the Danube (inverse flow). As a result, during high levels, Bolečica overspills itself, sometimes causing the traffic breach on a major roads that cross over the river, like ''Kružni put'' and ''Smederevski put''. Due to the much larger impact the river has on Leštane than it has on Boleč, through which it basically doesn't flow, some of the geographers tend to call the river Leštanska reka (, ) but the name has not been accepted officially neither among the local population. A short valley of Bolečica, which can be divided in two sections, Vrčin-Bubanj Potok and Bubanj Potok- Leštane-Vinča is a natural route for several important transportation lines: * the Belgrade-
Požarevac Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čač ...
railway * the ''Kružni put'', major road in the southern outskirts of Belgrade which begins almost 30 kilometers to the west, at
Ostružnica Ostružnica ( sr-cyr, Остружница) is a List of Belgrade neighborhoods, suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia, in the municipality of Čukarica. It has a population of 4,218 people (2011). Geography Ostružnica is located on the right b ...
* the section of ''Smederevski put'', the major road which connects Belgrade and
Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, 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, ...
* the section of the Belgrade-
Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...
highway, at Bubanj Potok Bolečica is bridged by the ''Kružni put'' in Leštane and by the ''Smederevski put'', near the crossroad with ''Kružni put''. Works on building additional 3 kilometers of the road from that point to the river's mouth into the Danube are halted in 2006. However, this section of the Bolečica's valley is projected route of the future modern highway which should begin at the Bubanj Potok highway crossroad and continue through the projected bridge Vinča- Omoljica into the province of
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
. Despite frequent discussion by the city government on this subject, no projects have been accepted so far. The name of the river means literally "(the water) that cures the illness" (Serbian: ''bol'', ilneess, pain and ''lečiti'', to heal, to cure). Today however, the river is highly polluted, becoming merely an open sewage canal. Dumping of the sewage begins already at
Vrčin Vrčin (Serbian language, Serbian Cyrillic: Врчин) is a List of Belgrade neighborhoods, suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Grocka. Name Historians Dušan J. Popović and Vladimir Ćorovi ...
, and the sewages of all the adjoining settlements, even much larger and distant Kaluđerica. As of March 2007, the projected sewage collector is still not finished. In addition, Bolečica flows through two emerging industrial zones, those of Bubanj Potok and Leštane. The dumping of industrial waste contributed to the demise of the wildlife in the river, which until the late 1990s was clear brook with small fishes and frogs, but today is dead, murky and full of waste deposits and not suitable even for the industrial use anymore. In March 2019, the environmentalists described the Bolečica as "less of a watercourse, more of a sewage watershed".


References


External links


Info on Bolečica (Waterworks of Vojvodina)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolecica Rivers of Serbia Geography of Belgrade Šumadija Grocka Voždovac Zvezdara