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ŠUMARSKI LIST 13/2005 str. 109     <-- 109 -->        PDF

V. Ivančević: BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNICAL REGULATION OF THE SENJ TORRENT "TORRENTF." ... Šumarski list SUPEEMENT (2005), 91-109
SENJSKA DRAGA AS A NATURAL SOURCE OF DRINKING
WATER FOR THE TOWN OF SENJ


The aqueduct in the old town of Senia dated from
the Roman period but has, unfortunately, not been preserved.
According toBuczynski (1997), the women
of Scnj had to get drinking water from the Kraljevica
water spring (today Kraljičino Vrelo) in Senjska Draga,
12 km away from Senj because there were no water reservoirs
in the town. On their long and arduous journey
to Senjska Draga and back they sang songs. Some of
these songs, dating from the 16lh and the 17th century,
have been preserved until today. Aware of the difficult
situation, in 1764 the town authority entrusted Karlo
Dini with the designing of an aqueduct project fashioned
after the old Roman aqueduct. The aqueduct, built
at the beginning of the 19th century, used water from
Kraljičino Vrelo. The pipes, manufactured in the surroundings
of Otočac, were made of pozzolana soil and
were lined with mortar. The aqueduct route followed
the road along the Senj torrent channel (Lapaine,
1896). Severe forest felling in the first half of the 19th
century in the area of Senjska Draga resulted in increased
torrents and erosion. It was for this reason that during
the reconstruction of the Josephine road through
Senjska Draga in 1843, Major K. Knežić, a renowned
civil engineer, proposed that the aqueduct be built
below the new road to St. Križ so that the town could be
completely protected. He connected the aqueduct to
water-abounding Kraljičino Vrelo and to two more
springs (Puhla and Brestovac). From Senjska Draga to
the sea nine sluices with watering sites and four lateral
sources for the fountain in the main square were built.


The covered water route of 7,400 m was built of homemade
clay pipes lined with mortar. The pipes were
60 cm long and 10 cm in diameter. The occasionally
unsatisfactory gradient of the water route and the pipes
of poorer quality (no enamel) allowed the growth of
the plant greater celandine (Fushsschwanz) in the pipes,
which interfered with or completely stopped the
water flow. Discovering the exact site of its growth
was very time-consuming and costly. The pipeline capacity
in the summer months was considerably lower
and could not meet increased demands for water. The
little quantities of water that managed to reach the
town were warm from passing through the shallowly
laid pipes. For this reason water was kept in cool places
before being drunk. Parallel to extensive works on
laying the water pipes, the town´s water supply network
was also built and the town harbour enlarged.
Thanks to the effort of K. Knežić , who was proclaimed
an honorary citizen of Senj, these operations were
successfully completed.


Constant problems with water supply urged the
Scnj city authority to completely reconstruct the water


supply network in 1873. The planned operations involved
the reconstruction of the water spring, laying the
pipes deeper in the ground and replacing the earthen
pipes with the iron ones. The Royal Land Government
granted the request of the Town Authorities on condition
that the Senj torrent was previously regulated. The
following period saw extensive biological-technical
activities (described in detail above). When most of the
biological and technical activities related to the regulation
of the Senj torrent were completed, the Senj water
supply network was reconstructed. The three existing
springs were complemented with three more springs.
The total minimal capacity of all the six springs was


1.46 1/sec or 87/6 1/min, or 45,990 m3 per year (Lapaine
, 1896). A more recent date from 1957 mentions
only four springs: Kraljičino Vrelo, Puhla, Brestovac
and Pištenak . After the reconstruction, the quantity
of water sufficed for the 2,700 inhabitants of Senj.
The main, 400 m3 water tower built near the town cemetery
at an altitude of 64 m was particularly impressive.
The reconstructed Senj water supply facility started
operating in 1894 to the joy of all the citizens of
Senj. The overall costs amounted to 74,550 florins, of
which the Royal Land Government allocated 49,540
florins (66 %) for the main water route, and the Town
of Senj 24,960 florins (33 %) for the city water network.
After the reconstruction of the water supply system,
small-scale operations on its enlargement were executed
inl928 and in 1931-34. Almost all the springs in
the area of Kriški and Ovčiji Potok were included and
households were connected to the main supply. The
next small-scale reconstruction was undertaken in
1951-52. The water supply system was completely reconstructed
in 1957-59, which resulted in a significant
increase in the capacity by the inclusion of almost all
the existing springs. Of 25 springs in all, the majority
were in the area of Kriški Potok (stream) (15 springs).
Kraljičino Vrelo (spring) had the biggest capacity with
a minimum of 4.75 1/sec. The other area of Ovčiji Potok
(stream) included nine springs, among which Brankovo
Vrelo (spring) had the highest capacity with a minimum
of 4.13 1/sec. One independent spring, Pištanek,
was also included, with a minimum capacity of 0.27
1/sec. The majority of the springs were on the geological
substrate of amphibolic porphyrite, the rocks of
Triassic age. The total minimal capacity of all the 25
springs was 9.15 1/sec or 289,080 m per year, the mean
capacity was 16.9 1/sec or 532,900 m3 per year, and the


The Scnj water supply project, 1957, Architectural bureau "Grakalić",
Zagreb. The project is housed in the Senj Municipal Services
Company.