Water quality of the Lepenica River: Overview and status in 2021

The Lepenica River is the most important watercourse in the city of Kragujevac. Regardless of its importance, this river and its tributaries are extremely poorly investigated from a biological aspect. Only a few investigations were conducted from the end of the 20th century. After that, only physicochemical and microbiological parameters were monitored by scientists and Public Institutions. Our research was performed in 2021 at five localities at the Lepenica River and included an analysis of phytobenthos, macroinvertebrate, and fish communities, with the aim to assess ecological status/potential according to National Regulative. Our results indicate that the ecological status of this river was good (II class) only at one locality before the industrial and urbanized zone of the city of Kragujevac. From the entrance into the city of Kragujevac, the Lepenica River becomes highly polluted by multiple pollutants and belongs to the V class of ecological potential.