The Rasina ( sr, Расина) is a river in south central
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
. The long river
flows through the Serbian Rasina region, gives its name to the modern
Rasina District
The Rasina District ( sr, / , ) is one of eight administrative districts of Šumadija and Western Serbia. It expands to the central parts of Serbia. According to the 2011 census results, it has a population of 241,999 inhabitants. The administ ...
of Serbia, and flows into the
Zapadna Morava near the city of
Kruševac
Kruševac ( sr-cyr, Крушевац, , tr, Alacahisar or Kruşevca) is a city and the administrative center of the Rasina District in central Serbia. It is located in the valley of West Morava, on Rasina river. According to the 2011 census, ...
.
Its historical name is Arsen (Αρσεγα).
The Rasina springs from the southern slopes of the
Goč mountain, near the village of Rašovka, southwest of the most famous Serbian
spa
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneothe ...
,
Vrnjačka Banja
Vrnjačka Banja ( sr-cyr, Врњачка Бања) is a town and municipality located in the Raška District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 10,065 inhabitants, while the population of the municipality is 27,527 inhabitants.
Vrnj ...
. The river originally flows to the southeast, around the mountains of
Željin and
Kopaonik
Kopaonik ( sr-cyr, Копаоник, ; sq, Kopaoniku) is a mountain range located in Serbia and Kosovo. The highest point is the Pančić's Peak with . The central part of the Kopaonik plateau was declared a national park in 1981 which today c ...
, next to the villages of Mitrovo Polje, Bzenica, Pleš, Jablanica, Grčak, Toskići, Budilovina and Milentija. When the Rasina reaches the small town of
Brus, it enters the upper Rasina region and continues next to the villages of Tršanovci, Lepenac and Razbojna.
At this point the river reaches the western side of the
Veliki Jastrebac mountain, and makes a wide, elbow turn to the north. In this part of the course, the Rasina also makes a southeast border of the Aleksandrovačka Župa region. After the villages of Bogiše and Zlatari, the Rasina has been dammed at the village of Ćelije, with an artificial
lake Ćelije.
The lower Rasina region is densely populated (villages of Suvaja, Majdevo, Štitare, Grkljane, Šogolj, Šavrane, Gornji Stepoš, Bukovica, Donji Stepoš, Lipovac, Malo Golovode, Donje Golovode), with the administrative center of the Rasina District, Kruševac. In its lower course, the Rasina is followed by a parallel flow of the Pepeljuša river, which flows into the Zapadna Morava separately. Seven kilometers after Kruševac, the Rasina flows into the Zapadna Morava at the village of Makrešane.
The Rasina drains an area of ,
belongs to the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
and it is not navigable.
Lake Ćelije
Reservoir was formed in 1980, when high dam was built. The lake was created as a part of the regulation program of the
Velika Morava river, that is, as part of the project that to reduce the amount of sediments which would ultimately reach the
Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station and its
Lake Đerdap. The usage of the lake water for the Kruševac waterworks wasn't part of the original project. In 1984, a water treatment plant was built in the village of
Majdevo. The plant was reconstructed in 2012 and, due to the increased capacity, the waterworks in the municipalities of
Ćićevac and
Varvarin were connected to the grid.
The lake was designed to serve for water supply until 2030 due to its serviceable volume decrease, but the soil erosion in the watershed is lessen then the one that had been foreseen and the life span of the lake will be significantly longer.
In May 2019, preliminary examination by the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia concluded that there is a basis for the legal protection of the lake as a natural monument.
References
Sources
* ''Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija'', Third edition (1985); Prosveta;
* Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): ''Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije''; Svjetlost-Sarajevo;
External links
{{Protected areas of Serbia
Rivers of Serbia