Peruca Lake
Encyclopedia
Lake Peruća or Peruča is the second artificial lake in Croatia
after Lake Dubrava
. It is located in the Split-Dalmatia county
.
, south
of the source
of the River Cetina
, northeast of the State route D1
between the towns of Sinj
and Vrlika
.
The Lake is on the course of the River Cetina, bounded by Svilaja
mountain to the southwest and Dinara
mountain to the northeast.
from the Cetina River, and drains an area of 3,700 km², while the total catchment area of the Cetina is around 12,000 km2. The annual discharge is around 105 m2 s−1 as a consequence of a mean annual rainfall of 1380 mm. Tis is why the artificial lake was created by building a dam
on Cetina River in 1958, some 25 km downstream. The Peruća lake was the first large reservoir
created in karst
and the first remote reservoir in the Cetina Hydropower
System. The reservoir was impounded in the Cetina canyon
upstream of the Hrvatačko Polje (field) by the construction of the 63 m high Peruća earth dam and grout curtain
. The Peruća lake reservoir active storage is about 37% of the mean annual inflow
, and it considerably affects the Cetina flow regulation at the downstream power plants between Sinjsko Polje (field) and the Adriatic
. The head concentration which is the result of Peruća Dam construction is used by the Peruća Hydroelectric Power Plant. The Peruća lake reservoir's active storage is 565 million m3 at the maximum operating level at an elevation of 361.50 m.a.s.l. The maximum reservoir flood
level is 362.00 m.a.s.l. This was considered a great achievement at that time. The majority of the catchment drains calcareous
are rocks of the Cretaceous
period, predominantly limestone
. Peruća lake is the third largest lake in Croatia by size. It is spread over 10–20 km², and is 60–70 m at its maximum depth, depending on quantity of rain/snow in winter.
Building the dam on the Cetina and creating the lake, has limited flooding downstream. Dalmatia has secured a greater energy supply
.
Before it was built, the State of SFRY nationalised land which belonged to the inhabitants of the neighbouring settlements of Vrlika
, Garjak, Kosore, Ježević, Laktac, Dabar
, Vučipolje, Zasiok, Bitelić, Rumin
, Hrvace
, Satrić, Potravlje, Maljkovo
, Otišić
and Maovice
.
In the middle of the lake, there was an old Orthodox Dragović Monastery
. Before the artificial lake for the hydroelectric power station at Peruća was created, the Dragović monastery was moved to a hill not far from the old fortress at Gradina.
, when on January 28, 1993, in the aftermath of Operation Maslenica
, at 10:48 a.m., the dam was blown up in an intentional effort to destroy it by Serbian
/Yugoslav army
forces. They mined it with 30 tons of explosive and detonated the charges with the intention of harming thousands of Croatian civilians downstream. The explosion caused heavy damage, but ultimately failed to demolish the dam. The Croatian communities in the Cetina valley (from Sinj
to Omiš
) were nevertheless in great danger of being flooded by water from Peruća lake. The actions of the UNPROFOR officer Mark Nicholas Gray
(Major in the British Royal Marines) prevented the disaster at the Dam because before the explosion he had raised the spillway channel and reduced the level of water in the lake by four meters. This prevented total collapse of the dam and engineers were quickly able to maintain the integrity of the dam.
Subsequently, the Croatian forces intervened and recovered the dam and the surrounding area. On January 29, a small Croatian army team, supported by engineers previously employed in dam maintenance, verified that the main outlet valve could be accessed. It was accessible but stuck due to two years of neglect, loaded with 700 tons of hydrostatic pressure. The engineers then refilled the oil in the hydraulic pumps and used an UNPROFOR engine to restart them. This allowed for the lake to finally drain into Cetina, at a rate of 187 m3/s.
In August 1993, HEP
started to repair the dam. The works on the dam were completed some time after the war ended, in May 1996.
In 2002, Colonel Gray was awarded the MBE
. In 2011, Croatian president Ivo Josipović
decorated four Croatian soldiers for valor in combat at Peruća.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
after Lake Dubrava
Lake Dubrava
Lake Dubrava is a reservoir on the Drava in northern Croatia. It is administratively divided between Međimurje County and Varaždin County, and is bordered by the municipalities of Prelog, Sveti Đurđ and Veliki Bukovec...
. It is located in the Split-Dalmatia county
Split-Dalmatia County
Split-Dalmatia County is the central-southern Dalmatian county in Croatia. The administrative center is Split. The population of the county is 455,242...
.
Location
Located in inland DalmatiaDalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, south
South
South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....
of the source
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
of the River Cetina
Cetina
Cetina is a river in southern Croatia. It has a length of and its basin covers an area of . Cetina descends from an altitude of 385 m at its source to the sea level when it flows into the Adriatic Sea. It is the most water-rich river in Dalmatia....
, northeast of the State route D1
D1 (Croatia)
The state road D1 is a national highway in Croatia. It is a one-lane highway that spans from Macelj border crossing in the north via Krapina, Zagreb, Karlovac, Slunj, Gračac, Knin, Sinj, ending in Split...
between the towns of Sinj
Sinj
Sinj is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,448, while the population of the administrative municipality which includes surrounding villages is 24,832 ....
and Vrlika
Vrlika
Vrlika is a small town and municipality in inland Dalmatia, Croatia. The closest large towns are Sinj, Knin, and Drniš. The town of Vrlika has a population of 959, while the municipality has a population of 2,705 . There are 2,670 Croatian speakers, 16 Serbian speakers and 19 speakers of other...
.
The Lake is on the course of the River Cetina, bounded by Svilaja
Svilaja
Svilaja is a mountain range in Croatia, located in inland of Dalmatian Zagora.It belongs to Dinaric Alps, and it stretches from the town of Sinj northwest to the Petrovo field, approximate 30 km in length....
mountain to the southwest and Dinara
Dinara
Dinara is a mountain located on the border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of its summits, also called Dinara, is the highest point in Croatia at 1,831 m and a prominence of 728 m.-Etymology:...
mountain to the northeast.
Building of the dam
The Lake is fed by waterWater
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
from the Cetina River, and drains an area of 3,700 km², while the total catchment area of the Cetina is around 12,000 km2. The annual discharge is around 105 m2 s−1 as a consequence of a mean annual rainfall of 1380 mm. Tis is why the artificial lake was created by building a dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
on Cetina River in 1958, some 25 km downstream. The Peruća lake was the first large reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
created in karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
and the first remote reservoir in the Cetina Hydropower
Hydropower
Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...
System. The reservoir was impounded in the Cetina canyon
Canyon
A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...
upstream of the Hrvatačko Polje (field) by the construction of the 63 m high Peruća earth dam and grout curtain
Grout curtain
Grout curtains are barriers that protect a dam from seepage and can be used in initial construction or repair. Additionally, they can be used to strengthen foundations and contain spills.-Characteristics:...
. The Peruća lake reservoir active storage is about 37% of the mean annual inflow
Inflow
Inflow may refer to:*Inflow - In hydrology, the source of the water in a body of water*Infiltration/Inflow, inappropriate connection of surface runoff drains into sanitary sewers*Inflow , air that flows inwards to a thunderstorm...
, and it considerably affects the Cetina flow regulation at the downstream power plants between Sinjsko Polje (field) and the Adriatic
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
. The head concentration which is the result of Peruća Dam construction is used by the Peruća Hydroelectric Power Plant. The Peruća lake reservoir's active storage is 565 million m3 at the maximum operating level at an elevation of 361.50 m.a.s.l. The maximum reservoir flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
level is 362.00 m.a.s.l. This was considered a great achievement at that time. The majority of the catchment drains calcareous
Calcareous
Calcareous is an adjective meaning mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate, in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.-In zoology:...
are rocks of the Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
period, predominantly limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. Peruća lake is the third largest lake in Croatia by size. It is spread over 10–20 km², and is 60–70 m at its maximum depth, depending on quantity of rain/snow in winter.
Consequences
- Benign Consequences
Building the dam on the Cetina and creating the lake, has limited flooding downstream. Dalmatia has secured a greater energy supply
Energy supply
Energy supply is the delivery of fuels or transformed fuels to point of consumption. It potentially encompasses the extraction, transmission, generation, distribution and storage of fuels...
.
- Malign Consequences
Before it was built, the State of SFRY nationalised land which belonged to the inhabitants of the neighbouring settlements of Vrlika
Vrlika
Vrlika is a small town and municipality in inland Dalmatia, Croatia. The closest large towns are Sinj, Knin, and Drniš. The town of Vrlika has a population of 959, while the municipality has a population of 2,705 . There are 2,670 Croatian speakers, 16 Serbian speakers and 19 speakers of other...
, Garjak, Kosore, Ježević, Laktac, Dabar
Dabar
The word dabar means "word" or "talk" in Hebrew. Dabar occurs in various contexts in the Hebrew Bible.In the Hebrew Bible, dabar is sometimes used in reference to the "Divine Word", and in an active sense as a "word event", or prophetic words....
, Vučipolje, Zasiok, Bitelić, Rumin
Rumin
Rumin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stare Miasto, within Konin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north of Stare Miasto, west of Konin, and east of the regional capital Poznań....
, Hrvace
Hrvace
Hrvace is a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. It has a population of 4,116 , 97% which are Croats. The mayor's name is Dinko Bošnjak....
, Satrić, Potravlje, Maljkovo
Maljkovo
Maljkovo is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D1 highway....
, Otišić
Otišic
Otišić is a small village in the Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia.Located in inland Dalmatia, south of Vrlika, on the State route D1 between towns of Sinj and Vrlika. Otišić is a settlement in the Vrlika municipality, and has a population of about 20. Before war Otišić had population about 1000...
and Maovice
Maovice
Maovice is a small village in Split-Dalmatia county, Croatia. Maovice is a settlement in the Vrlika municipality, and has a population of 494...
.
In the middle of the lake, there was an old Orthodox Dragović Monastery
Dragovic Monastery
Monastery Dragović is a Serbian Orthodox monastery situated on a hill downstream the Cetina River not far from Vrlika in Croatia. Unfortunately, when the artificial Peruća Lake was created, the original monastery sank due to land movement...
. Before the artificial lake for the hydroelectric power station at Peruća was created, the Dragović monastery was moved to a hill not far from the old fortress at Gradina.
Croatian War of Independence
The Peruća Dam was gravely damaged during the Croatian War of IndependenceCroatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
, when on January 28, 1993, in the aftermath of Operation Maslenica
Operation Maslenica
In early September, 1991, during the opening stages of the Croatian War of Independence, Serb-dominated units of the Knin Corps of the Yugoslav People's Army , under the command of Colonel Ratko Mladić and supported by the ethnic Serb Krajina militia, conducted offensive operations against areas...
, at 10:48 a.m., the dam was blown up in an intentional effort to destroy it by Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
/Yugoslav army
Yugoslav Army
Aside from the Yugoslav People's Army, the terms Yugoslav Army, Army of Yugoslavia, or Military of Yugoslavia may refer to:* Yugoslav Partisans , the Yugoslav resistance army during World War II...
forces. They mined it with 30 tons of explosive and detonated the charges with the intention of harming thousands of Croatian civilians downstream. The explosion caused heavy damage, but ultimately failed to demolish the dam. The Croatian communities in the Cetina valley (from Sinj
Sinj
Sinj is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,448, while the population of the administrative municipality which includes surrounding villages is 24,832 ....
to Omiš
Omiš
Omiš is a town and port in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and is a municipality in the Split-Dalmatia County. The town is situated approximately south-east of Croatia's second largest city, Split. Its location is where the emerald-green Cetina River meets the Adriatic Sea...
) were nevertheless in great danger of being flooded by water from Peruća lake. The actions of the UNPROFOR officer Mark Nicholas Gray
Mark Nicholas Gray
Mark Nicholas Gray MBE is a Colonel in the British Royal Marines who stopped a disaster at the hydroelectric Peruća Dam during the Croatian offensive of 27–28 January 1993 when he raised the spillway channel and reduced the level of water in the lake...
(Major in the British Royal Marines) prevented the disaster at the Dam because before the explosion he had raised the spillway channel and reduced the level of water in the lake by four meters. This prevented total collapse of the dam and engineers were quickly able to maintain the integrity of the dam.
Subsequently, the Croatian forces intervened and recovered the dam and the surrounding area. On January 29, a small Croatian army team, supported by engineers previously employed in dam maintenance, verified that the main outlet valve could be accessed. It was accessible but stuck due to two years of neglect, loaded with 700 tons of hydrostatic pressure. The engineers then refilled the oil in the hydraulic pumps and used an UNPROFOR engine to restart them. This allowed for the lake to finally drain into Cetina, at a rate of 187 m3/s.
In August 1993, HEP
Hrvatska elektroprivreda
Hrvatska elektroprivreda is a national power company in Croatia which has been engaged in electricity production, transmission and distribution for more than one century, and with heat supply and gas distribution for the past few decades...
started to repair the dam. The works on the dam were completed some time after the war ended, in May 1996.
In 2002, Colonel Gray was awarded the MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
. In 2011, Croatian president Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the...
decorated four Croatian soldiers for valor in combat at Peruća.
External links
- Cetina River
- http://river-cetina.croatian-adriatic.eu/