Dečanska Bistrica

Dečanska Bistrica (Дечанска Бистрица) Bistrica e Deçanit
Origin	Bogićevica mountain, Kosovo
Mouth	White Drin, near Klina, Kosovo, Serbia
Basin countries	Kosovo (Serbia)
Length	53 km
Basin area	300 km²

The Dečanska Bistrica (Serbian pronunciation: [detʃanska], Serbian Cyrillic: Дечанска Бистрица; Albanian: Bistrica e Deçanit) is a river in Kosovo. This 53 km-long right tributary to the White Drin river flows entirely within the western part of Kosovo (the Metohija region).

The name of the river, Bistrica, means "clearwater" in Serbian. The adjective Dečanska, "of Dečani", is added to distinguish it from other Bistrica rivers in the Metohija region: Pećka Bistrica ("of Peć"), Prizrenska Bistrica ("of Prizren"), Kožnjarska Bistrica ("of Kožnjar"), Loćanska Bistrica ("of Loćan"), etc.

Prokletije and Gorge of Dečani

The Dečanska Bistrica originates from the southern slopes of the Bogićevica mountain, a part of the massive Prokletije mountain system. The river flows north of the Đeravica peak, the highest in Kosovo (2,656 m), initially under the name of Kožnjarska Bistrica, and receives many streams from the Bogićevica, Micinat, Strečoka and Koprivnik mountains.

The river turns southeast on the northern slopes of the Koprivnik and Strečoka mountains, where it carved the deep gorge of Dečani (Dečanska klisura). The upper part of the gorge is the glacial trough of the ancient Dečani glacier on the Prokletije mountain.

Metohija region

As the river flows out of the gorge it reaches the medieval monastery of Visoki Dečani, which is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The river continues eastward, in the very densely populated area next to the small town of Dečani and the villages of Istinić, Beleg, Brdlić, Vranovac and Jablanica, before it empties into the White Drin.

In the upper course, the waters of the river are used for the Kožnjar hydroelectrical power plant (6.5 MW). In the lower parts its waters are, to some extent, used for irrigation.

The Dečanska Bistrica belongs to the Adriatic Sea drainage basin, drains itself an area of 300 km², and it is not navigable.

References

• Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
• Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6

Coordinates: 42°31′N 20°33′E / 42.517°N 20.55°E / 42.517; 20.55