page_title: Zaovine Lake
section_title: 2019 draining
hierarchical_section_title: Zaovine Lake / 2019 draining
caption_attribution_description: Српски / srpski: Језеро Заовине, Планина Тара Ово је фотографија заштићеног природног добра у Србији под шифром: НП03 This is a a photo of a natural area in Serbia with ID: НП03
context_page_description: Zaovine Lake is an artificial lake in central-west Serbia, on the Tara Mountain. It was created on the Beli Rzav river as a reservoir for the Bajina Bašta II reversible hydro power plant. The lake, with its five bays, have been nicknamed the "Jewel of Tara".
context_section_description: In the early April 2019 numerous media reported about the massive draining of the lake. A large amount of water was drained from the reservoir in the period of 15 days. The Jelisavčići bay, 20 m (66 ft) deep at the normal water level, drained to the point that it could be walked over on foot. The entire lake was reduced to the stream, as the water level plunged for 40 m (130 ft).
  Complaints came from the local population, tourists, environmentalists, fishermen, excursionists and the representatives of the Tara National Park, who claimed that such fluctuation will damage wildlife, especially the fish population, as the lake is a spawning area. The empty lake became a national news, especially after the exposed, muddy banks triggered landslides down from the 300 m (980 ft) tall hills above the lake. Landslide area spread to 30 ha (74 acres), crumbling and tilting 21 houses and destroying roads, communal infrastructure, meadows and forests. The park authorities declared sections of the lake unsafe.
  Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the state-owned electric utility power company Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) maintained that they are not emptying the lake and that situation is normal. After strong public and media reaction, the EPS began to pump water back into the lake. However, this happened after similar abrupt draining of other large reservoirs, like the Vlasina Lake in the summer of 2018, Lake Zavoj in 2018 or the Uvac Lake in November 2018. These lakes are also in the protected areas and the EPS claimed that everything was normal, while the local population accused them of forcing the electricity production and selling it on the black market. In the case of the Zaovine Lake, representative of the Tara National Park admitted that the "interest of the EPS differs from the interest of the park", while one of the local EPS managers stated that the "EPS commercial sector has to act according to the market".
  The EPS also claimed that the mass wasting area already existed and was prone to landsliding anyway. The area was known for the mass wasting, but it was dormant since before 2000, as the water level was stable. National park departments estimated that the damage, both the material and environmental, especially for the fish life in the lake, is major.
caption: Lake Zaovine in March 2017.
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