Stanimir Kostadinov

Land Use Changes and Environmental Problems Caused by Bank Erosion: A Case Study of the Kolubara River Basin in Serbia

© 2012 Dragicevic et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Land Use Changes and Environmental Problems Caused by Bank Erosion: A Case Study of the Kolubara River Basin in Serbia

Bank erosion as a factor of soil loss and land use changes in the Kolubara River Basin, Serbia

Institute for Geography, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Studentski trg 3/3, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. Institute for the Environment and GIS, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Studentski trg 3/3, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. Department of Ecological Engineering of Soil and Water Resources Protection, Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, Kneza Viseslava 1, 11030 Belgrade, Serbia.

Floods in Serbia in 2010 – Case Study: The Kolubara and Pcinja River Basins

Riverine and torrential floods are the most significant natural hazards on the territory of Serbia. The potentially flooded area in Serbia with a 100-year return period is 15,198.07 km2 (17.2% of total area). Serbia is mostly threatened by the floods of small to medium-size torrential rivers mostly in late spring (from May to the end of June), a period characterised by intensive rainfalls of a few-hour duration. In the Pcinja River Basin, the town of Trgoviste was struck by a flood in May 2010. Two people were killed, almost 170 ha of land and 27 buildings were flooded (including 12 severely damaged), roads damaged or blocked, and 230 inhabitants evacuated. The flood in the Kolubara River Basin of late June 2010 affected 500 ha with 230 flooded households. Total damage was estimated at €370,000. In the watersheds studied, the 2010 floods were natural occurrences, but human action significantly aggravated the disasters. The messages to be learned help improve the system of prevention and the organisation of mitigation of flood damages, in order to reduce it to an acceptable level.

Extreme Climate Events and Erosion Control in Headwater Catchments of Serbia

Floods are the most frequent natural catastrophic events worldwide (Berz et al. 2001; De Moel et al. 2009; Bissolli et al. 2011). In Serbia, the risk of torrential floods is the most common natural hazard, and a permanent threat of ecosystems, local and national economy, and social life (Kostadinov 1996; Dragicevic et al. 2011). The average annual economic loss due to natural hazards over the world has been estimated at 40 billion EUR (MRG 2003), and, particularly, flash floods caused several serious loss of life and economic damage.

Torrential flood prevention in the Kolubara river basin

One of the most vulnerable parts to natural hazards in Serbia is Kolubara river basin. In the past, during the period from 1929 to 2013, 121 torrential flood events in the Kolubara river basin were recorded which show that this territory is extremely vulnerable to the torrential floods. The extreme event which occurred in May 2014 causing the catastrophic material damages and casualties was the latest and historical flood. The analysis of natural conditions in the Kolubara basin uniformly showed that this area is predisposed to a greater number of torrential floods due to its geomorphological, hydrological and land use properties. Torrential floods are closely related to the intensity and spatial distribution of erosive processes in the upper part of the Kolubara basin. The estimation of soil erosion potential is generally achieved by Erosion Potential Model (EPM). For the purposes of determining the degree of torrential properties in various water streams in the Kolubara basin, the calculation of susceptibility to torrential floods was assessed by Flash Flood Potential Index (FFPI). More than half of the basin area (57.2%) is located within the category of very weak and weak erosion (Zsr = 0.35), but the category of medium erosion is geospatially very common. Such a distribution of medium erosion category provides conditions for generating, i.e. production of sediment which would boost torrential properties of water streams. After the classification of the obtained FFPI values it was determined that 25% of the Kolubara basin is very susceptible to torrents and this data should be seriously taken into consideration. Based on the analyses, the best and most successful manner of defence is prevention which consists of the integrated river basin management system (integrated torrent control system) so that technical works in hydrographic networks of torrents and biological and biotechnical works on the slope of the basin would be the best solution. Permanent control of erosive and torrential processes in the river basin will be not only important for flood control but it can also protect the existing and future water reservoirs and retentions from siltation with erosion sediment which is of great significance to the water management, agriculture, energy sector, and the entire society.