Author(s)

V. Popov, T. Anovski & R. Gospavic

Abstract

The Prespa Lake is on the border between Greece, Albania and Republic of Macedonia. The importance of Prespa Lake has been widely recognised by national and international bodies in the three neighbouring countries not only because of its natural beauty, but also because of its high biodiversity, including populations of rare water birds, like for example the Dalmatian pelican, as well as for its cultural values including Byzantine monuments. In recent years a decrease in water in the lake has been recorded. Though there have been several studies investigating the water level decrease, it has been impossible so far to conclude on the reasons behind this phenomenon. A research project has started recently supported by the NATO SfP programme which has as one of the main objectives to look into the cause behind the water level decrease, and also to suggest strategies for the water usage of the lake’s watershed. 1 Introduction Three lakes, Ohrid, Big Prespa and Small Prespa, are on the borders between Albania, Republic of Macedonia and Greece, see Figure 1. Galichica and Dry mountains separate the lakes. According to an existing hypothesis by Cvijic [1], water from the Prespa Lake, which is shared by the three neighbouring countries, is drained through the Galichica and Dry mountains into Ohrid Lake. In Figure 2 the lakes and the Galichica and Dry mountains are shown. Field research conducted first by Anovski et al. [2] and later by other scientists confirmed this hypothesis.

Keywords