Author(s)

E. Anovska-Jovcheva, V. Popov & T. Anovski

Abstract

The Prespa-Ohrid lake system is shared between Greece, Republic of Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic) and Albania. In the recent years a water decrease in the Prespa Lake has triggered a number of studies on this very complex and important water system. As part of an international research project in which institutions from the UK, Greece, R. Macedonia and Albania took part, which was supported by the NATO Science for Peace (SfP) programme, the problem of water loss in the Prespa Lake has been investigated. Previous studies have established that the water from the Prespa Lake flows into the Ohrid Lake through the Galichica Mountain. As part of the study the flow through the mountain has been analysed using a free surface flow model. The model has been solved using a multi-domain boundary element method approach. Keywords: Prespa-Ohrid lake system, free surface groundwater flow, Galichica aquifer. 1 Introduction Three lakes: Ohrid, Big Prespa and Small Prespa are on the borders between Albania, Republic of Macedonia and Greece, see Figure 1. A hypothesis published at the beginning of the 20th century [1] predicted that the water from the Prespa Lake drains into Ohrid Lake through the Galichica and Dry mountains, which separate the two lakes. Investigations involving the use of natural isotopes

Keywords

Prespa-Ohrid lake system, free surface groundwater flow, Galichica aquifer