Balkana Lake

Balkana
Balkana Location of Lake Balkana
Location	Mrkonjić Grad
Coordinates	44°24′55″N 17°02′59″E
Basin countries	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Surface area	56.000 m2 (602.78 sq ft)

Balkana (Serbian Cyrillic: Балкана) is an artificial lake located on the slopes of Lisina mountain, in the municipality of Mrkonjić Grad, entity of Republika Srpska, in the western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The lake, actually, consists of two separate, though connected via small outcomes, basins, upper as larger and lower as smaller, with very small difference in water tables levels. Total area of both basins is 56.000 m² (602.78 sq ft). Balkana gets its waters from several mountain springs and two small mountain streams, Cjepalo and Skakavac, while its outflow is Crna Rijeka (English: Black River), which runs through Mrkonjić Grad from south to north, and joins Vrbas after 17 km (11 mi).

Name

Balkana Lake was formerly known as Balukhana and Balukana, which derived from Ottoman Turkish language baluk - meaning "fish", and hana - meaning "place of dwelling" (habitat). The name, over time, transformed into Balkana, which sounds much like Balkan but etymologically, as said before, is in no connection to it.

See also

• List of lakes of Bosnia and Herzegovina