shëm (river)

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Not to be confused with Ishim River.

Ishëm

Mouth of the Ishëm.

Location

Country Albania

Physical characteristics

Source

• location Kodër-Thumanë, Albania

• coordinates 41°30′26″N 19°41′32″E

Mouth

• location Adriatic Sea

 41°34′40″N 19°33′27″ECoordinates:
• coordinates
41°34′40″N 19°33′27″E

Map with the drainage basins of the Albanian rivers: Ishëm is in the center of the map.

The Ishëm (or Ishmi; Albanian: Lumi i Ishmit) is a river in western Albania, which brings
water to the area north of the Albanian capital, Tirana. It forms part of
a watercourse (Tiranë-Gjole-Ishëm), but only the lower third of the watercourse is
known as the Ishëm. The Ishëm proper is formed at the confluence of the
rivers Gjole and Zezë, a few km northwest of Fushë-Krujë. It flows into the Adriatic
Sea near the town Ishëm. The length of the watercourse is recorded in different sources
as between 74 and 79 km.[1][2][3]
The Ishëm is formed from several rivers which arise to the northeast of Tirana in
the Skanderbeg Mountains beyond the Krujë range. The most important of these are:

 The Tiranë (definite Albanian form: Tirana; Albanian: Lumi i Tiranës), which has its
source to the northeast of Mount Dajt, is the main tributary of the Ishëm.[2] It crosses
the mountain range to the north of Mount Dajt, through a narrow canon called
Shkalla Tujanit. It then flows west all the way across the Plain of Tirana. The city of
Tirana stretches along the southern edge of its broad flood plain. At the western
edge of the plain, the river meets its most important tributary, the Lanë, which rises
on the western slopes of Mount Dajt and flows through the city centre of Tirana to
the south of the Tiranë river in a westerly direction until it meets it. After this, the
river continues in a northerly direction.
 The Tërkuzë (definite Albanian form: Tërkuza; Albanian: Lumi i Tërkuzës) meets
the Tiranë a little further north. It also has its source to the east of the mountain
 chain and crosses it through a canyon, called Shkalle e Bovillës, which has been
dammed in order to create the Bovilla Reservoir, which has a surface area of around
8,000,000 m³ and has provided drinking water to the city of Tirana since December
1998. The Tërkuza crosses the Tirana Plain in a northwesterly direction, running
past Tirana Airport, before it meets the Tiranë river. Once these two rivers join, the
river is referred to as the Gjole.
 The Zezë (definite Albanian form: Zeza; Albanian: Lumi i Zezës, lit. 'Black River')
arises east of Krujë. It also runs through a canyon, called Shkalla e Kryemadhës,
and then crosses the plain in a northwesterly direction, passing through Fushë-
Krujë. It meet the Gjole a few kilometers after the Tërkuza.
From the point where the Zeze joins the Gjole, the river is known as the Ishëm. It flows
in a westerly direction until it reaches the edge of the Tirana Plain, then turns to the
northwest and heads for the Adriatic. In this part of its journey it passes through a town
with the same name. Shortly before the mouth of the river, it is joined by the Droja river,
a stream which arises in the mountains northeast of Krujë. The Ishëm discharges into
the Adriatic to the southwest of Laç in the Rodon Bay, which is bounded on the western
edge by the Cape of Rodon and forms part of the Drin Gulf.
The drainage basin of the Ishëm covers a total area of 673 km2. The average discharge
at the mouth of the river is 20.9 m³/s. The highest annual discharge is over six times the
annual minimum.[2]
The Ishëm and its tributaries, the Lanë and the Tiranë, are
seriously polluted. Wastewater from industry and the city of Tirana empties into the
rivers without being processed. The quantities of ammonia, nitrogen dioxide,
and suspended solids exceed EU legal limits on several different measures.[1] At its
mouth, the river smells very bad and the bay is polluted by the wastewater, plastic, and
other detritus from Tirana, which threatens an important sea turtle breeding ground. [4]
It is possible that the Tiranë river and the Zeza were not always tributaries of the Ishëm,
but used to flow into the Erzen. It has been suggested that at an earlier time they
crossed the Plain of Tirana in a southwesterly direction, breaking through the chain of
hills at the western edge of the plain where there are now two valleys (at Vorë and at
Yzberisht), and entering the Erzen river valley. The rivers would have adopted their
current, northerly course, as a result of subsidence in the Plain of Tirana. [5]
The city of Bendensis, later called Stephaniaka, was located at the mouth of the Ishëm.
It was the seat of the diocese of Benda.

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Alqiviadh Cullaj, Agim Hasko, Aleko Miho, Ferdinand Schanz, Helmut Brandl,
Reinhard Bachofen: The quality of Albanian natural waters and the human impact, in: Environment
International 31 (2005)
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c Niko Pano (2008), Pasuritë ujore të Shqipërisë (in German), Tirana: Akademia e
Shkencave e Shqipërisë, ISBN 978-99956-10-23-4
3. ^ Malnor Kolaneci: Flood Risk in Albania, Worldbank 2000
4. ^ Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSET) (December 2009). "Monitoring
and Conservation of Important Sea Turtle Feeding Grounds in the Patok Area of Albania: Annual
Report 2009" (PDF). Seaturtle.org. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
5. ^ Herbert Louis, Albanien. Eine Landeskunde vornehmlich auf Grund eigener Reisen, Stuttgart 1927

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Rivers in Albania