Kupa
|
Kupa / Kolpa Kulpa |
||
 The Kolpa near Prelesje in southern Slovenia |
||
| Data | ||
| location | Croatia , Slovenia | |
| River system | Danube | |
| Drain over | Save → Danube → Black Sea | |
| source |
Risnjak National Park 45 ° 29 ′ 27 ″ N , 14 ° 41 ′ 22 ″ E |
|
| Source height | 321 m | |
| muzzle | at Sisak in the Save coordinates: 45 ° 27 '36 " N , 16 ° 24' 8" E 45 ° 27 '36 " N , 16 ° 24' 8" E
|
|
| length | 296 km | |
| Catchment area | 10,032 km² | |
| Left tributaries | Odra , Lahinja | |
| Right tributaries | Dobra , Korana , Glina | |
| Medium-sized cities | Karlovac , Sisak | |
| Small towns | Ozalj | |
| Navigable | not navigable | |
 The source of the Kupa / Kolpa |
||
 The Kolpa / Kupa near Brod na Kupi |
||
.jpg) Valley of the Kupa near Sodevci |
||
The Kupa (Croatian) or Kolpa (Slovenian) (in German Kulpa ), from Latin Colapis or Calapius, is a fish-rich tributary of the Sava in Croatia and Slovenia . It rises in Croatia in the Risnjak National Park , which is located in the Gorski Kotar area. The river forms about 100 km in length on the upper reaches of the Slovenian place Osilnica, the border between the two countries to roughly the Slovenian place Božakovo near Metlika in Bela krajina . Up to Karlovac on Croatian territory it is considered clean and is used for swimming in summer. In 2012, Kolpa was selected as the EDEN region ( European Destination of ExcelleNce ). A special postage stamp was issued by the Slovenian Post for the occasion.
On the Slovenian side, the border was fortified with barbed wire in many places in the wake of the so-called refugee crisis from 2015 . This was later partially replaced by a border fence . Above all, these border fortifications hinder game movement. This also hampers the development of tourism.
Run
The Kupa / Kolpa rises in the Gorski kotar northeast of Rijeka in the area of the Risnjak National Park . After the Čabranka has flowed to it from the left, the Kupa / Kolpa then forms the border with Slovenia , before it flows on beyond Metlika on Croatian territory. It then runs through Karlovac and finally flows into the Save at Sisak .
Economic and tourist use of the river
The Kolpa is practically not navigable. Only the last 3 kilometers from the landing stage in Sisak to the mouth of the Sava are z. B. used by Danube passenger ships. The hydropower was used to drive grain mills but also sawmills (e.g. Podturn / Slovenia). Sometimes there was a combination of both. Along the Kupa there are still several old water mills , some of which have already been renovated in: Sracak , Pravutina , Misinci , Bubnjarci , Mala Paka and Jurovo . The mills listed are on the Croatian side of the river. There were around 86 mills in total. On the upper reaches, in the area of today's Kočevje, some of them were built by the German Gottscheers . Modernization and social change mean that only a few mills and saws are still in use; On the Slovenian side, there is only one watermill in operation in the Kočevje region. The river is mainly used for tourism for swimming. There are also some campsites along the river. Numerous festivals and events take place on the shores in summer. Examples of this are the summer carnival in Podzemelj (Bela krajina), which is organized by the Kučar cultural association, and the large multi-day rock festival "Schengenfest" at the Vinica campsite .
In 2006 Slovenia placed a large part of the river under nature protection as Krajinski park Kolpa , starting at the village Fučkovci up to Stari Trg .
The village Letovanić in Croatia is also located on the Kupa . The village and the river together form the approximate border between the Croatian regions of Turopolje and Banovina .
Tributaries
The most important tributaries of the Kupa are the Čabranka , the Dobra , the Korana , the Kupčina , the Lahinja in Slovenia, as well as the Glina and Odra .
Hydrology
The catchment area of the Kupa covers an area of 10,032 km² and is mainly located in Croatia, and smaller parts in Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina . The mean flow rate at the confluence with the Sava is 283 m³ / s. This makes the Kupa the second most water-rich tributary of the Sava after the Drina .
Bathing possibilities
There are countless swimming opportunities along the Kolpa. There are particularly popular bathing opportunities with a wide beach in Pravutina , Mala Paka , Ozalj and Bubnjarci on the Croatian side. On the Slovenian side, people bathe at a large number of former water mills and weirs. Examples are Stari Trg , Vinica , Adlešiči , and Griblje . There are organized campsites in Podzemelj and Primostek . The campsite, which was popular in socialist times and has bathing facilities right at the border crossing in Metlika, is reportedly to be renewed.
Sewage treatment plants, water quality, environmental pollution
One of the most problematic is the tributary of the Krupa, which flows into the Kolpa at Primostek. This short river with a picturesque spring is polluted by PCBs that come from an illegal dump of a capacitor plant in Semič . The pollution was discovered purely by chance in 1984 by scientists from the health department in Maribor and later also in Ljubljana, when the source of the Krupa was examined in order to investigate it to produce drinking water for the Bela krajina. The fact that this is a karst landscape is particularly problematic. Even today the pollution is alarmingly high and can be detected in soil samples, fish, in water, in pets, etc.
Already in socialist Yugoslavia, the river was used both as a drinking place for cattle and for washing cars, and locals used the river in the summer months to wash their bodies using soaps and shampoos, as many did not have a proper bathroom at home. The water pollution caused by this was local and only limited to certain times and therefore relatively low.
Since the breakup of Yugoslavia and later Slovenia's entry into the EU, the water quality has been falling, which can be clearly observed downstream from Griblje in the Bela krajina (Slovenia). The river bed is clearly silted up, possibly also due to a decrease in precipitation in the summer months. The weirs may also not be professionally renewed. The water quality suffers due to the use of liquid manure and artificial fertilizers on the agricultural land.
In addition, since the turn of the millennium, wastewater from the new, two-stage sewage treatment plants that have been built on the basis of the new sewer system has been fed into the Kolpa . Under pressure from the EU, all the villages in Belka krajina have to be connected to a sewer system because the septic tanks used are problematic due to the karst. Therefore, outside the cities, many small, two-stage (mechanical-biological), decentralized sewage treatment plants have been built, which channel the treated wastewater into the rivers. Such sewage treatment plants are already in operation on the Kolpa. So far, however, only below the Krajinski Park Kolpa. The first sewage treatment plant is located near Griblje. There are also sewage treatment plants at Krasinec, etc. A sewerage system is currently being built in Vinica.
The problem is caused by the increased use of artificial fertilizers and fertilizers from the biogas plant in Črnomelj. During socialist times, the mostly small farms only used manure for fertilization, which was well adapted to the karst landscape with only thin humus soils . An attempt is now being made to increase the size of the fields through land consolidation measures (amalgamation of agricultural land). The few remaining farms are now trying to increase the yield by using artificial fertilizers and, above all, liquid manure , which had never been used for fertilization in this area before.
The biogas plant in Črnomelj, which went into operation a few years ago, has recently come under increasing criticism. Many residents of Črnomelj repeatedly complain that they are repeatedly exposed to the unbearable stench from the facility. Investigations of the digestate revealed that the limit values for salmonella were exceeded in June 2012. According to press releases, the operators of the plant had to pay a heavy fine for discharging the contaminated manure into a nearby pig farm. Observers say that slaughterhouse waste is used in the biogas plant even from abroad (e.g. Bosnia-Herzegovina). A local citizens' initiative called Proteus has formed and is fighting for improvements. In this context, environmental activists criticize the fact that the decisive Slovenian regulation for the processing of biodegradable and mixed municipal waste is based on limit values that apply in Denmark, Germany and France, where there is little or no karst and the soils there are therefore more self-cleaning.
gallery
Outdoor swimming pool near Podzemelj
Kolpa in the morning hours ( Vinica )
Kolpa near Prelesje in Slovenia
Kolpa near Osilnica
Kolpa near the Kostel Castle
Road along the Kolpaschlucht
Sewage treatment plant at Krasinec
Web links
- Kolpa , Alps-Danube-Adria , BR online
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gottscheer Altsiedler Verein.
- ^ Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation (IRSNC).
- ↑ FAO - Inland fisheries of Europe (English)
- ↑ Evropski zakoni, balkansko obnašanje (German: European laws, Balkan behavior), in the slow. Weekly newspaper Dolenjski list, Novo mesto, November 2, 2012