Gruža Lake ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Гружанско језеро, Gružansko jezero), 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 ...

located to the southwest of

Knić Knić () is a village and municipality located in the Šumadija District of central Serbia. According to 2022 census, the population of the town is 1,942, while population of the municipality is 11,729. History Rocky hills above the village of ...

, Serbia. The lake was created in 1983 as a water reservoir for the city of

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

and the surrounding settlements. The lake covers an area of approximately 9.19 km2, making it the largest body of water in Central Serbia.

History

The special spatial plan for the future lake and the surrounding area was drafted in 1976. It took almost a decade of scientific and expertly deliberations on the viability of a reservoir on the bad configuration terrain, but the politicians decided to go with it. After various technical setbacks, the water treatment facility in the village of Pajsijević became operational in 1984. The lake is used for providing tap water to 250,000 inhabitants in Kragujevac and surrounding territories. Technical problems with the reservoir persisted. Shallow average depth of the lake and relatively large flooding area are ideal for the overgrowth of plants, which rot and complicate the treatment processes. The process is further endangered by the boom of illegal construction on the banks of the lake, despite strict ban. Some 200 illegal permanent structures were built along the lake, polluting it. The water is further polluted by pesticides, as arable lots of local farmers reach the lake's bank, even though the law forbids use of chemicals on the shoreline of the lake since the water is used for drinking. New spatial plan was proposed in 2011, but was never adopted. It included elevation of the water level and enlargement of the lake, but the residents of the bank villages protested, fearing they will end up being flooded. In March 2022, the government decided to make a new spatial plan for the area, which includes 44 villages with 30,000 denizens, on the territory of the cities of Kragujevac and

Čačak Čačak ( sr-Cyrl, Чачак, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Moravica District in central Serbia. It is located in the West Morava Valley. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population ...

, and municipalities of

and

Gornji Milanovac Gornji Milanovac ( sr-Cyrl, Гoрњи Милановац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 23,109, while the population of the municipality is 38,985 (2022 census data). ...

. The plan includes construction of the Gruža Highway next to the lake.

Biodiversity

Thanks to its proximity to Knić and Kragujevac, as well as its spaciousness, fishing is very popular and fishing competitions are frequent.

Carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

, pike,

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

, Prussian carp, bleak,

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

zander The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Percidae, which also includes perch, Gymnocephalus, ruffe and Darter (fish), darter. It is found in freshwater and brackis ...

, etc. are present in the lake. On 21 June 2018, a gigantic

wels catfish The wels catfish ( or ; ''Silurus glanis''), also called sheatfish or just wels, is a large species of catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, in the basins of the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. It has been intro ...

was caught in the shallow section of the lake known as the "Turkish wells". It was long and weighed . It took 4 fishermen and 3 hours to get it out of the water. The lake plays a very important role during the migration of foreign and native bird populations. The lake is also a wintering ground for some species of ducks and geese, because it is located on the presumed Moravian-Vardar migration route. 78 species of birds were recorded, of which 25 were found to nest in the lake area. The largest number of species was recorded in the zone of strong anthropogenic influence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruza (lake) Lakes of Serbia Šumadija