White Drin


The White Drin or White Drim is a river in Kosovo and northern Albania, a ca. -long headstream of the Drin.

Course

Kosovo

The Kosovo section of the White Drin flows entirely in the semi-karst part of Kosovo, in an arc-shaped -long course. The river originates in the southern slopes of the Zhleb mountain, north of the town of Peja. The river springs near the Radavačka Cave. The cave is multi-leveled, not much explored and has a lake inside. The water from the spring was used by the Peć brewery. The stream is originally a sinking river which eventually springs out from the strong well and falls down as a -high waterfall named the White Drin Waterfall near the village of Radovac, away from Peć. In 1934, Russian émigré Dimitry Tyapkin projected and constructed a hydroelectric power plant next to the waterfalls which produced electricity for the town.
The White Drin first flows to the east, next to the spa of Banja e Pejës, and the villages of Banje, Trbuhovac and Zlakućan, where it receives the Istočka river from the left and turns to the south. The rest of the course is through the very fertile and densely populated central section of Kosovo, but oddly, there is not even one large settlement on the river itself, despite many smaller villages on the river. The largest cities are several miles away from the river whilst some smaller towns and large villages are closer to it. The White Drin also creates the small White Drin Canyon in Republic of Kosovo.
The White Drin receives many relatively long tributaries: Pećka Bistrica, Dečanska Bistrica, Prue potok, and Erenik from the right; Istočka, Klina, Mirusa, Rimnik, Topluga and Lumi I Prizrenit from the left.
The Kosovo part of the White Drin basin comprises. Here the waters of the river are used for waterworks of the big nearby towns, irrigation and power production. At the Vrbnica-Shalqin border crossing, the river enters the eastern Albanian region of Trektan.

Albania

The Albanian section of the river is long with the drainage area of. There are no settlements on the river and it receives the Lumë river from the left is flooded by the artificial Fierza lake.