Pirinska Bistritsa
The river springs from the southern shore of the Argirovo glacial lake in situated in the Demirkapia cirque in Northern Pirin at an altitude of 2,365 m. It flows in southern direction in a deep valley. Near Pirin refuge it turns to the southeast and enters a densely forested area, where it again flows southwards. At the village of Pirin the river takes a sharp turn to the southwest and enters a sparsely forested valley with eroded slopes. At the village of Katuntsi it enters the Sandanski–Petrich Valley, where the river bed widens. At half a kilometer south of the village of Novo Hodzhovo is the confluence with the river Petrovska reka. From that point it forms the border between Bulgaria and Greece until its confluence with the Struma at an altitude of 69 m between the villages of Kulata and Promachonas.
Its drainage basin covers a territory of 507 km or 2.93% of Struma's total.
The Pirinska Bistritsa River has predominantly snow-rain feed with high water in late spring (May) and low water in late summer (September). The average annual flow is 3.35 m/s at the village of Pirin.
There are four settlements along the river, all of them situated in Sandanski Municipality: Pirin, Gorno Spanchevo, Katuntsi and Novo Hodzhovo. The river's waters are utilised for irrigation and electrical power generation.
Citations
- ^ Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria 1980, p. 48
- ^ Dushkov 1972, p. 126
References
- Мичев (Michev), Николай (Nikolay); Михайлов (Mihaylov), Цветко (Tsvetko); Вапцаров (Vaptsarov), Иван (Ivan); Кираджиев (Kiradzhiev), Светлин (Svetlin) (1980). Географски речник на България [Geographic Dictionary of Bulgaria] (in Bulgarian). София (Sofia): Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura).
- Душков (Dushkov), Добри (Dobri) (1972). Пирин. Туристически речник [Pirin. Tourist Dictionary] (in Bulgarian). София (Sofia): Наука и култура (Nauka i kultura).