Natural Beauty Of Neretva River

La rivière Neretva tire son nom des Celtes, ils l'appelaient la rivière .....

The Neretva river got its name from Celts, they called the river "Nera Etwa" which means the "Flowing Divinity", "Divine River", and no doubt this truly is the Nile of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, indeed, all of South-East Europe - that's my river !

Today, foolish and corrupted Bosnian leaders and politicians of all colors and political affiliations are not satisfied with usage of the Neretva waters with 2/3 of the Neretva under an absolutely excessive utilization, so they call for more "sustainable" requisition of the Neretva head waters, the last untouched and unspoiled stretch of this unique river. They brazenly call it "national interest" while the nation echoing with public outcries for the preservation and statutory protection of the Neretva, its tributaries and surroundings.

At first I started this article/story on English Wikipedia (as user/editor "santasa99"), quickly gathering momentum with new entries text was rapidly grew, but soon it was much harder to maintain continuity and consistency of the story because of constant editing and changing by other editors often irrelevant and unnecessary. Soon all I was doing is fighting for my article without any new entries, not to mention my helplessness when some zealous editor ask for proof for copyrights on images. Most of the original text there was deleted or changed, while some stuck, but still, it was hopeless endeavor. So, I finally grew tired of "edit wars" and decided to rewrite my article here, on my own terms. Here it is!

Neretva is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. It has been harnessed and controlled to a large extent by four HE power-plants with large dams (as higher than 15 meters) and their storage lakes, but it still recognized for its natural beauty, diversity of its landscape and visual attractiveness. At its delta, a specific way of human living has developed, which now is passing away.

Rivers are the backbone of human society, but freshwater ecosystems have suffered a lot from an increasing population and the associated development pressures. One of the most valuable natural resource of Bosnia and Herzegovina (and Croatia) is its freshwater richness contained by an abundant wellspring and clear rivers, indeed, a natural treasure of great importance yet to be evaluated, acknowledge and appreciated. From the Drina river on the east to the Una river on the west and from the Sava river on the north to the Adriatic sea on the south, Bosnia and Herzegovina is genuine European freshwater reservoir. Situated in between all these major regional rivers the Neretva basin contain most significant portion of fresh drinking water.

In that dense water system network the Neretva holds a significant position among rivers of Dinaric Alps region, regarding its divers ecosystems and habitats, flora and fauna, cultural and historic heritage, but also as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and most importantly its clean, fresh drinking water.

Geography and hydrology

The Neretva flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina (and Croatia) and it is largest karst river in the Dinaric Alps in the entire eastern part of the Adriatic basin, which belongs to the Adriatic river watershed. The total length is 230 km, of which 208 km are in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the final 22 km are in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. Size of the Neretva watershed is 10,380 km2 in total, in Bosnia and Herzegovina 10,110 km2 with addition of the Trebišnjica river watershed and in Croatia 280 km2. Average discharge at profile Žitomislići in Bosnia and Herzegovina is 233 m3/s and at the mouth in Croatia is 341 m3/s in addition with the Trebišnjica river 402 m3/s. The Trebišnjica river basin is included to the Neretva watershed due to physical link of two basins by porous karst terrain.