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The Iskar River

The Iskar River. Waterways in Europe: Opportunity or danger?. Features. The Iskar River- 365 km long. The only river in Bulgaria that runs from the south to the north. Flows into the Danube river.

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The Iskar River

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  1. The Iskar River Waterways in Europe: Opportunity or danger?

  2. Features • The Iskar River- 365 km long. • The only river in Bulgaria that runs from the south to the north. Flows into the Danube river. • Takes source from Rila mountain, crosses the Balkan mountain creating the beautiful Iskar gorge. • Fills the biggest dam in Bulgaria- the Iskar Reservoir and Pancharevo lake. The Iskar Reservoir provides 80% of the water of Sofia.

  3. Features • The Iskar gorgeis a beautiful virgin place where the wild river cuts through the mountain and forms a narrow gap with queer rocky formations. The road and railroad follow the course of the Iskar River through a winding, scenic canyon. • Along the way you can see wonderful views as Katina pyramids, Lakatnishki rocks (named so because the Iskar makes an elbow shaped bent ) and other karst formations, caves and waterfalls.

  4. Plants Plants: pine, spruce, beech-tree, oak, willow, poplar and other broad-leaved trees.

  5. Animals: wild duck heron

  6. Animals: white stork tortoise

  7. Animals: swan cormorant

  8. Fish Chub Beluga

  9. Fish Catfish Trout

  10. History In the past the Iskar was a passage to get through the Balkan mountain • 9-10th century- fortresses were built on the steep riverbanks • Remains of Roman town and road where it flows into the Danube • Many monasteries hidden in the mountain around the river • Copper, gold mines • Fishing • Drinking water

  11. Nowadays The water of the river is used for: • water supply- domestic and industrial; • producing electricity-hydropower plants; • irrigation; • fishing, tourism.

  12. Hydroelectric power plant: A complex of 9 modern minihydroelectric plants is being constructed on the river Iskar. Hydropower plant uses the natural flow of water and converts it into electricity without any toxic emissions or harmful effects on the environment. When the 9 MWPS start working it will decrease the emissions of carbon dioxide with 74196 t per year.

  13. Hydroelectric power plant: Representatives of some eco organizations including WWF consider that small hydroelectric plants aren’t very effective. They produce little electricity but harm the water ecosystem, change the river bed and decrease biodiversity. The opponents notice that the number of floods increase when there is a dam at such mountain river areas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeGDjcdETRo

  14. Problems Water Quality Problems-The water quality of Iskar was impacted by different causes: • Untreated domestic wastewater- untreated sewage and wastewater from some villages is discharged directly into the river • Chemical fertilisers in agriculture • Industrial wastewater from the Kremikovsti metallurgical plant, from mine and processing of copper, from a plastic recycling factory • Hydropower plants – harm biodiversity, fish migration, change ecosystem- the river bed, plants around the river, birds • During times of heavy rains and floods water with lots of toxic and oxygen consuming sediments leaks into the river. This happens at hydropower plants designed with settling tanks in which sediment is deposited or because the treatment plant of Sofia is overloaded.

  15. Solutions: • Treatment plants for domestic water of all villages along the river • Treatment plants for industrial wastewater • Strict control at fertilizers in agriculture • Cleaning the river bed to avoid floods • An initiative to restock fish species in the river, where this is considered appropriate.

  16. Solutions: Design and construction of MWPS • Slide gates that stop sediment from building up behind the weir; • A fish bypass to allow fish passage to pass freely and to migrate along the river • Small dams (6.5m to 11.1m) posing low risks to local communities and the environment • Regular opening of the gates to remove sediments during periods of high river flow • Constant control of the dam walls, monitoring of the river flow so that floods be avoided • Rules and control about building site, design and operating hydropower plants

  17. Benefits Fishing tourism, canoeing, team building trips, rock climbing, exploring rock formations and caves, mountaineering

  18. END Waterways in Europe: Opportunity or danger?

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