Drava

The Drava or Drave (Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus,<ref>Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Dravus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.</ref> is a river in southern Central Europe.<ref name="Utrata">Utrata Fachwörterbuch: Geographie - Englisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Englisch by Jürgen Utrata (2014). Retrieved 10 Apr 2014.</ref> With a length of Template:Gaps,<ref name="jdrcar">Joint Drava River Corridor Analysis Report Template:Webarchive, 27 November 2014</ref> or Template:Gaps, if the length of its Sextner Bach source is added, it is the fifth or sixth longest tributary of the Danube, after the Tisza, Sava, Prut, Mureș and likely Siret. The Drava drains an area of about 40,154 square kilometers.<ref name=jdrcar/> Its mean annual discharge is seasonally Template:Gaps to Template:Gaps. Its source is near the market town of Innichen, in the Puster Valley of South Tyrol, Italy. The river flows eastwards through East Tyrol and Carinthia in Austria into the Styria region of Slovenia. It then turns southeast, passing through northern Croatia and, after merging with its main tributary the Mur, forms most of the border between Croatia and Hungary, before it joins the Danube near Osijek, in Croatia.

Name

In ancient times the river was known as Dravus or Draus in Latin, and in Greek as Δράος<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Δράβος. Medieval attestations of the name include Dravis (Template:Circa AD 670), Drauva (in 799), Drauus (in 811), Trauum (in 1091), and Trah (in 1136). The name is pre-Roman and pre-Celtic, but probably of Indo-European origin, from the root *dreu̯- 'flow'.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The river gives its name to the dravite species of tourmaline.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Carpis

The Carpis (Greek: Κάρπίς) was a river which, according to Herodotus,<ref>Hdt. 4.49.</ref> 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.<ref>Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Carpis. 1". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.</ref>

Geography

The Drava (along with one of its tributaries, the Slizza) and the Spöl are the only two rivers originating in Italy that belong to the Danube drainage basin. Its main left tributaries (from the north) are the Isel (contributes 39 m³/s), the Möll (25 m³/s), the Template:Interlanguage link (22 m³/s), the Gurk (30 m³/s) and the Lavant (12 m³/s) in Austria, and the Mur (166 m³/s) near Legrad at the Croatian–Hungarian border. Its main right tributaries (from the south) are the Gail (45 m³/s) in Austria, the Meža (12 m³/s) and Dravinja (11 m³/s) in Slovenia, and the Bednja (? m³/s) in Croatia.

Country	Length (km)	Catchment area (km2)	Mean flow (m3/s)
Italy	10.6	354 (0.9%)	4
Austria	254.7	Template:Gaps (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	Template:Gaps (100%)	544

Mean discharge is for the last station in the country mentioned in the source.<ref name=jdrcar/>

Course

File:Drauquellen.jpg

Drava sources, Innichen

The sources of the Drava are located at the drainage divide between the market town of Innichen/San Candido and neighbouring Toblach/Dobbiaco in the west, where the Rienz River rises, a tributary of the Adige/Etsch. At Innichen itself the 16+ km Template:Interlanguage link,<ref>Sextner Bach at the South Tyrol/Alto Adige agency for the environment website</ref> originating near the Sextener Rotwand, joins the ~2 km long source creek. The river than flows eastwards and after 8 kilometres crosses into East Tyrol in Austria. At Lienz it flows into the Isel, sourced from the glaciers of the Venediger and Glockner 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 tributary Template:Interlanguage link under the Rötspitze, the Isel (ca. 64 km) is also longer than the combined Drava and Sextner Bach (ca. 60 km) to that point.<ref>Hydrographisches Jahrbuch Österreichs 2008, S. OG322</ref><ref name=jdrcar/>

The river then flows east into Carinthia at Oberdrauburg. The river separates the Kreuzeck range of the High Tauern in the north and the Gailtal Alps in the south, passes the Sachsenburg narrows and the site of the ancient city of Teurnia, before it reaches the town of Spittal an der Drau. Downstream of Villach, it runs along the northern slopes of the Karawanks to Ferlach and Lavamünd.

The Drava passes into Slovenia at Gorče near Dravograd, from where it runs for Template:ConvertTemplate:GeoQuelle via Vuzenica, Muta, Ruše, and Maribor to Ptuj and the border with Croatia at Ormož. The river then passes Varaždin, Belišće and Osijek in Croatia, and Barcs in Hungary. It is navigable for about Template:Convert from Čađavica in Croatia to its mouth.

The hydrological parameters of Drava are regularly monitored in Croatia at Botovo, Terezino Polje, Donji Miholjac and Osijek.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Discharge

The Drava's mean annual discharge (Q) at Drávaszabolcs (Hungary, 77.7 rkm). Period from 1995 to 2023.<ref name="KSH">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Year	Q (m3/s)	Year	Q (m3/s)
1995	479	2010	633.4
1996	598	2011	442.4
1997	437	2012	528.3
1998	513	2013	638.5
1999	588	2014	714.9
2000	549	2015	459.2
2001	464	2016	269.7
2002	410.6	2017	359.7
2003	348.8	2018	446.4
2004	501.6	2019	259.8
2005	474.1	2020	535.5
2006	326.7	2021	478.4
2007	338	2022	319.1
2008	483.5	2023	636
2009	627.9	2024

Hydroelectric power plants

Currently, there are 22 hydroelectric power plants on the Drava. The power plants are listed beginning at the headwaters:

Dam	Nameplate capacity (MW)	Annual generation (Mio. kwh)
Amlach power station<ref name="ti"/>	60	219
Paternion<ref name="ve"/>	24	95
Kellerberg<ref name="ve"/>	25	96
Villach<ref name="ve"/>	25	100
Rosegg-St. Jakob<ref name="ve"/>	80	338
Feistritz-Ludmannsdorf<ref name="ve"/>	88	354
Ferlach-Maria Rain<ref name="ve"/>	75	318
Annabrücke<ref name="ve"/>	90	390
Edling<ref name="ve"/>	87	407
Schwabeck<ref name="ve"/>	79	378
Lavamünd<ref name="ve"/>	28	156
Dravograd<ref name="dem"/>	26.2	142
Vuzenica<ref name="dem"/>	55.6	247
Vuhred<ref name="dem"/>	72.3	297
Ožbalt<ref name="dem"/>	73.2	305
Fala<ref name="dem"/>	58	260
Mariborski Otok<ref name="dem"/>	60	270
Zlatoličje<ref name="dem"/>	126	577
Formin<ref name="dem"/>	116	548
Varaždin	86	476
Čakovec	75.9	400
Dubrava	84

The Drava is one of the most exploited rivers in the world in terms of hydropower, with almost 100% of its water potential energy being exploited.<ref name="HSEDidYouKnow">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="DravaVision">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As the region of the river is a place of exceptional biodiversity, this raises several ecological concerns, together with other forms of exploitation such as use of river deposits.<ref name="DravaControversity">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="DravaVisionSustainable">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book

External links

• DrauDrava - old river and new sounds
• Condition of Drava in various locations in Slovenia:
• Črneče Template:Webarchive - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Črneče by ARSO)
• Ptuj Template:Webarchive - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Ptuj by ARSO)
• Borl Template:Webarchive - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Borl by ARSO)