Bega (Tisza)


The Bega or Begej, is a 244 km long river in Romania and Serbia. It rises in the Poiana Ruscă Mountains in Romania, part of the Carpathian Mountains, and it flows into the Tisa river near Titel, Vojvodina, Serbia. Its drainage basin covers an area of, of which in Romania.

Course

Romania

The river starts at the confluence of its headwaters Bega Luncanilor and Bega Poienilor. After flowing north, the river bends to the west at Curtea, passing through Făget, Balinț, and Topolovățu Mare, where it enters the low Banat plains. There, it begins to spill over, so the Bega Canal was constructed tracking Bega Veche, which is also channelled for 97 km, as a parallel waterway for 114 km, before the two rejoin northeast of Zrenjanin, Serbia. The Bega Canal runs through Timișoara and continues to the southwest, enters Serbia near the village of Srpski Itebej.

Serbia

Near Klek, the Begej becomes part of the large Danube–Tisa–Danube Canal and turns south, receiving waters from the Stari Begej. There it is separated from DTD route turning west and reaching Zrenjanin. From there it continues to the south, using the old river bed of the Tisa, passing through Ečka, Stajićevo and Perlez. In this part, it flows through marshlands, some of which are transformed into the Ečka fish pond, the largest one in Serbia with an area of 25 km². The remaining parts of wetland make the largest swamp in Serbia, Carska bara, after which Begej empties into the Tisa.

Characteristics

Through the Tisa and Danube rivers, it belongs to the Black Sea catchment basin. Its own catchment area is 2,878 km².
The channelled parts of both Stari Begej and Begej in Serbia were navigable, but due to the lack of proper maintenance, the Begej proper stopped being navigable in the 1950s. In August 2018 the project of a massive revitalization of the river was announced as a joint venture of Serbia, Romania and European Union. The project will include the transformation of the river into a navigable one again, all the way to the Romanian border. It also includes a reconstruction of the locks at Srpski Itebej and Klek, revitalization of a port and an anchorage in Zrenjanin and a bicycle path along the river, from Zrenjanin to the Romanian border. It is planned that the entire project will be finished in 4 years, by 2022.
Works on the marina and an anchorage in Zrenjanin began in the summer of 2019, concurrently with the construction of the bicycle path to the Romanian border. As the works began in 2019, the deadline was moved to 2023, but the anchorage should be finished by 2022. Additional works includes the cleaning and revitalization of the river itself. By 2019, Romanian part of the river was completely cleaned, as the problems with the pollution were solved, partially due to the shut down of the dirt industries and partially because of the implemented treatment of the waste. On Serbian side, nothing has been on the pollution prevention and the major sources of pollution are the town of Zrenjanin itself and the Ečka fishponds, which also polluted the nearby Carska Bara nature reserve.
Settlements on Begej include the villages of Srpski Itebej, Novi Itebej, Torak and Žitište.

Tributaries

The following rivers are tributaries to the river Bega :
Part of the water from the river Timiș is diverted towards the Bega by the Coșteiu-Chizătău Canal.

Settlements

Romania

In downstream order: Margina, Făget, Răchita, Mănăștiur, Leucușești, Bethausen, Cutina, Bodo, Balinț, Chizătău, Ictar-Budinț, Topolovățu Mic, Recaș, Remetea Mare, Ghiroda, Timișoara, Utvin, Sânmihaiu Român, Uivar, Otelec

Serbia

In downstream order: Srpski Itebej, Novi Itebej, Torak, Žitište, Klek, Zrenjanin, Ečka, Lukino Selo, Stajićevo, Perlez, Titel

Images