TheDrava orDrave (German:Drau,pronounced[ˈdʁaʊ]ⓘ;Slovene:Drava[ˈdɾàːʋa];Croatian:Drava[drǎːʋa];Hungarian:Dráva[ˈdraːvɒ];Italian:Drava[ˈdraːva]), historically known as theDravis orDravus,[2] is a river in southernCentral Europe.[3] With a length of710km,[1] or724km, if the length of its Sextner Bach source is added, it is the fifth or sixth longest tributary of theDanube, after theTisza,Sava,Prut,Mureș and likelySiret. The Drava drains an area of about 40,154 square kilometers.[1] Its mean annual discharge is seasonally500m³/s to670m³/s. Its source is near the market town ofInnichen, in thePuster Valley ofSouth Tyrol,Italy. The river flows eastwards throughEast Tyrol andCarinthia inAustria into theStyria region ofSlovenia. It then turns southeast, passing through northernCroatia and, after merging with its main tributary theMur, forms most of the border between Croatia andHungary, before it joins the Danube nearOsijek, in Croatia.
The Carpis (Greek: Κάρπίς) was a river which, according to Herodotus,[8] flowed from the upper country of the Ombricans northward into the Ister (Danube), whence it has been supposed that this river is the same as the Dravus.[9]
The Drava (along with one of its tributaries, theSlizza) and theSpöl are the only two rivers originating in Italy that belong to the Danubedrainage basin. Its mainleft tributaries (from the north) are theIsel (contributes 39 m3/s), theMöll (25 m3/s), theLieser [de] (22 m3/s), theGurk (30 m3/s) and theLavant (12 m3/s) in Austria, and theMur (166 m3/s) nearLegrad at the Croatian–Hungarian border. Its main right tributaries (from the south) are theGail (45 m3/s) in Austria, theMeža (12 m3/s) andDravinja (11 m3/s) in Slovenia, and theBednja (? m3/s) in Croatia.
Country
Length (km)
Catchment area (km2)
Mean flow (m3/s)
Italy
10.6
354 (0.9%)
4
Austria
254.7
22162 (55.2%)
280
Austria–Slovenia
4.2
border
Slovenia
117.7
4662 (11.6%)
292
Slovenia–Croatia
23.3
border
Croatia
166.4
6822 (17.0%)
544
Croatia–Hungary
133.0
border
Hungary
0
6154 (15.3%)
544
Total
709.8
40154 (100%)
544
Mean discharge is for the last station in the country mentioned in the source.[1]
The sources of the Drava are located at thedrainage divide between the market town of Innichen/San Candido and neighbouringToblach/Dobbiaco in the west, where theRienz River rises, a tributary of theAdige/Etsch. At Innichen itself the 16+ kmSextner Bach [de],[10] originating near theSextener Rotwand, joins the ~2 km long source creek. The river than flows eastwards and after 8 kilometres crosses into East Tyrol in Austria. AtLienz it flows into theIsel, sourced from the glaciers of theVenediger andGlockner Groups. The Isel (average discharge 39 m³/s) is almost three times larger than the Drava (14 m³/s) where they meet and, starting from the source of its tributarySchwarzach [de] under theRötspitze, the Isel (ca. 64 km) is also longer than the combined Drava and Sextner Bach (ca. 60 km) to that point.[11][1]
The Drava passes into Slovenia atGorče nearDravograd, from where it runs for 142 kilometres (88 mi)[12] viaVuzenica,Muta,Ruše, andMaribor toPtuj and the border with Croatia atOrmož. The river then passesVaraždin,Belišće andOsijek in Croatia, andBarcs in Hungary. It is navigable for about 90 kilometres (56 mi) fromČađavica in Croatia to its mouth.
The Drava is one of the most exploited rivers in the world in terms ofhydropower, with almost 100% of its water potential energy being exploited.[18][19] As the region of the river is a place of exceptionalbiodiversity, this raises several ecological concerns, together with other forms of exploitation such as use of river deposits.[20][21]
^Snoj, Marko (2009).Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan. p. 124.
^Deer, William Alexander; Howie, Robert Andrew; Zussman, Jack (1997).Rock-Forming Minerals: Volume 1B, Disilicates and Ring Silicates. London: The Geological Society. p. 559.
^"Is the Drava River Basin management sustainable and well on the way?"(PDF).International Symposium "Drava River Vision". Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management; Government of Carinthia, Department of Water Management. September 2008. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2017-08-07. Retrieved2017-08-07.
Condition of Drava in various locations inSlovenia:
ČrnečeArchived 2016-03-03 at theWayback Machine - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken inČrneče byARSO)
PtujArchived 2016-03-04 at theWayback Machine - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken inPtuj byARSO)
BorlArchived 2016-03-03 at theWayback Machine - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken inBorl byARSO)
