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South-eastern Dinaric karst: contrasts in water treasury

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Abstract

South-eastern Dinarides comprise territories of four countries of SE Europe—Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania and their parts belonging to the Adriatic basin. The region consists mainly of highly karstified carbonate rocks and is characterised by a high precipitation rate. As a result, karst aquifers can accumulate large amounts of groundwater issuing at numerous karst springs, some being the world’s largest in terms of maximal flow. Locally, the annual total rainfall rate sometimes reaches 5000 mm or even more, while an average specific groundwater yield of examined karst aquifers ranges from 40 to 50 l/s/km2. However, as discussed in this paper, the region also has many contrasts: abundant water reserves yet water shortage in certain parts, natural phenomena and wonders yet limited sources of life, good natural water quality marred by its vulnerability to pollution, feasible engineering solutions accompanied by their partly negative impact on environment, and water management at the national level contrasting with the transboundary character of most large aquifers. Doubts whether waters from this “treasury” are utilised in the best way and what the prospects are for their sustainable use and protection in the future are also analysed in the text.

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Data availability

Climate elements dataset (precipitation, air temperatures) can be found at web sites of meteorological services of the countries Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Albania. Most data on geology and hydrogeology is available in cited references (published books and articles), while some data are not publicly available as included in engineering projects and studies of employed companies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hydrogeology, Centre for Karst Hydrogeology, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Mining and Geology, Belgrade, Serbia

    Zoran Stevanović

  2. National Committee of IAH for Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

    Petar Milanović

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  1. Zoran Stevanović
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  2. Petar Milanović
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ZS and PM wrote the main manuscript text jointly and equally. All sketch maps and photos are result of their original works. Both authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zoran Stevanović.

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Stevanović, Z., Milanović, P. South-eastern Dinaric karst: contrasts in water treasury. Environ Earth Sci 82, 215 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-10904-4

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