Trebižat (river)

Trebižat
Trebižat
	The Trebižat River in Ljubuški
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Peć-Mlini
Mouth
• location	The Neretva River at Struge near Čapljina
Length	51 km (32 mi)
Basin size	The Neretva River

The Trebižat River is a river in the southern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and major tributary of the Neretva River.

Geography and hydrology

Trebižat River is located in the south-western region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Neretva basin and it is a major tributary of the Neretva.

Sinking river

Trebižat is 51 km long and is the second largest losing stream in Bosnia and Herzegovina that drains into the underground and reappears several times. In terms of length, it comes right after the Trebišnjica river which is the largest river of this kind in the world and also a tributary of the Neretva watershed.

The water regime of the Trebižat River is affected by the abstraction of its water for hydropower plants, irrigation and fish farming not to mention pollution problems. Trebižat River flows through an area of remarkable ecological value, hosting protected areas such as the travertine-formation around Kravice Waterfall. Although there have been many negative impacts in recent years on the Trebižat River, the analyses of aquatic organisms, river ecology and river morphology showed a high diversity. Various actions are considered with the aim of preserving the Trebižat River and its riparian ecosystem.^[1]^[2] The area was assessed in terms of its geography, climate conditions, historic heritage of the river, demography, geology of the river and its tributaries, river hydrology and morphology, ecological characteristics, river pollution, river use, and river management.

Nine names of the Trebižat River

Because the Trebižat River disappears and reappears at resurgences various times, the people used to call it different names. Exactly nine names are known (every time it resurfaced, the river got a new name): Vrlika - Tihaljina - Mlade - Culuša - Ričina - Brina - Suvaja (Posušje) - Matica - Trebižat (Ljubuški).

Waterfalls

A special characteristic of Bosnia and Herzegovina's water systems are the plethora of waterfalls dotting the landscape. Among the most beautiful and biggest are the: Štrbački cascade (23.5 m high – quantitatively the biggest waterfall in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Martin Brod on the Una River, Pliva Falls in Jajce (27 m), Kravice Falls and Koćuša falls on the Trebižat River.^[3]

Kravica Falls

The most attractive landmark on the Trebižat River is Kravice Falls, located 3 km downstream from the Vitaljina, in Studenci near Ljubuški. Similar to Krka Falls and Plitvice Lakes, Trebižat River is also in a constant process of natural tufa deposit. It is known that travertine barriers and waterfalls can grow only in water of high purity and quality, so it is not strange that the landscape of a natural phenomenon that is Trebižat was declared a Nature Park.^{[citation needed]}