Ishëm (river)

Map showing the headwaters Tërkuza, Tirana and Lana ( from top to bottom ) and ores at the bottom

Mouth of the Ishëm ( from left) at Kepi i Rodonit

Canyon of the river north of Tirana DAJTI

The river Ishëm ( Albanian: Ishmi ) drains the landscape to the north of the Albanian capital Tirana. Its length is given as 74 km 79 km respectively. Its actual length is actually only a third of it, as only the lower reaches of that name.

The Ishëm is made up of various rivers, which all originate northeast of Tirana in Kruja Skanderbeggebirge behind the chain. These are mainly:

• The river Tirana ( Lumi i Tiranës ), which has its source north-east of the mountain DAJTI, is the largest tributary of the Ishëm. In a narrow gorge ( Shkalla Tujanit ) he breaks the chain north of the border Dajtis. He then passes out into the plain of Tirana, which he traversed in its entire width to the west. The city of Tirana spreads from the south up to be wide, but usually almost dry river bed. At the western edge of the plain, the river unites with its main tributary, the Lana, which rises on the western flank of the DAJTI and south of the Lumi i Tiranës flows through the city center to the west of Tirana. The river runs in the sequence to the north.
• A little north of Lumi i Tiranës runs the Tërkuza. They, too, just East of the outer edge chain. In the gorge Shkalle e Bovillës in which it breaks through this edge chain, it is, however, jammed. The underlying Bovilla reservoir ensures the drinking water supply of Tirana. The reservoir holds 8,000,000 m³ and has been in operation since December 1998. The Tërkuza crossed the great plain in a north-westerly direction, it passes the Tirana airport.
• The Zeza ( Black ) just East of Kruja. It also breaks through a gorge ( Shkalla Kryemadhës e ) the edge chain emerges into the plain and flows in a northwesterly direction through Fushë - Kruja.

The combined river Lumi i Tiranës and Tërkuza is called Gjola. After a few kilometers also pushes even the Zeza added. The river turns to the west and is called henceforth Ishëm. The western edge of the plain, following which Ishëm then flows to the northwest of the Adriatic. This area is also a village of the same. Shortly before the opening, he still takes on the droja, a north-east in the mountains springing from Kruja river. Southwest of Laç opens the Ishëm in the Rodon Bay, which will be completed in the west by Kepi i Rodonit and is part of the Drin Gulf.

The dehydrated from Ishëm area covers 673 square kilometers. The average discharge at the mouth is 20.9 m³ / s, with the highest discharge rate exceeds the annual minimum six-fold.

The Ishëm and its tributaries Lana and Tirana are considered extremely soiled. Wastewater from the city Tirana and industry are passed untreated into the rivers. The proportions of ammonium, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in many measurements exceed the permissible EU limit values ​​. At the mouth of the river smells foul and directs waste water, plastic and other wastes from Tirana in the bay.

Perhaps the Lumi i Tiranës and Zeza flowed in historical times not in the Ishëm but were tributaries of the ores. It is believed that they then crossed the plain of Tirana in a southwesterly direction along the western edge of the plane broke through the hills in the two today virtually barrier -free cuts of Vora ( Zeza ) respectively Yzberisht ( Lumi i Tiranës ) and so came to the valley of the ores. Only subsidence in the plain of Tirana have draining the rivers to the north.

At its mouth was formerly the city Bendensis, later Stephaniaka. It was the seat of the diocese of Benda.