The River That Keeps “Flooding Our Lives”

UNDP Albania

July 23, 2025

The Drin-Buna Basin

Sead Sadiku, Director at the River Basen Administration Office

Author

Nora Kushti

Communications Specialist, UNDP Albania

Let’s admit it. The Buna River has always been a problem. It has always made news.

My parents worked in the area for decades. I still remember being a kid, waiting to see if they’d make it home. When the river overflowed, buses stopped running back to the city. Roads disappeared under water. My brothers and I waited by the phone. We checked the news. We didn’t know if they’d sleep at home or in a village nearby.
That was 40 years ago. Nothing much has changed. Buna river still continues to cause harm and fear.

During my last visit to the area, I heard the same worries I heard growing up—but this time, from new voices. A woman teacher in Dajç told me, “With just a little rain, the school yard floods. We can’t hold normal classes. Parents keep kids home. Teachers can't reach the school.”

The River That Keeps “Flooding Our Lives” — Blerina describes the time her house got flooded back to 2011

UNDP Albania

A woman in Berdica pointed to her land. “I lost two harvests in a row,” she said. “Floods come early now. There’s no warning. The water doesn’t wait.”

Another farmer added, “It only takes a little water. The machines get stuck. Work stops. Everything stops.”

Then I met Robert. His family grows plants for export. They’ve built a small business, step by step. “But when the river floods,” he said, “everything is at risk. One season lost can wipe us out.”

These people are not asking for much. Just a chance to work without fear. To build without watching it sink.

Why Is This Still Happening?

The Buna is unpredictable, but the science is clear. The Drin, one of its tributaries, sends more water than the Buna can handle—up to 352 m³/s, compared to Buna’s 320. When the Vau i Dejës hydropower plant releases water, the problem grows.

The river lacks proper infrastructure. In many places, embankments Are too old, eroded, or broken. Add climate change—more rainfall in less time, earlier snowmelt—and the risk gets worse.

Decades of deforestation and poor planning haven’t helped. Homes and businesses now sit on land that once absorbed floodwaters.

A Turning Point?

But there is hope.

With funding and in partnership with the Adaptation Fund, UNDP is investing in flood risk management across the Drin River Basin—shared by Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

In Albania, the focus is clear: fix the KK-5 channel. It’s one of the main drainage systems in the Shkoder region, stretching 5 km. It’s old. It’s overburdened. And it will be rehabilitated, according to social and environment standards.

That means safer land. More reliable roads. Less anxiety when the sky turns grey.

Besa and Drita two women from the village told me how important the rehabilitation of the channel is and what is means for their peace of mind, economies and their lives.

Also underway is support for the non-structural measures like working with local organizations to apply nature-based solutions—planting native vegetation, restoring natural water paths, and preparing communities through early warning systems and local engagement.

A Regional Effort That Makes Sense

This isn’t just an isolated fix. It’s part of a broader regional project: the Integrated Climate-Resilient Transboundary

Flood Risk Management Project. It aims to make flood-prone areas more resilient and adaptive to climate risks—through cooperation, smart planning, and shared responsibility.

For the first time, Albania and its neighbors have a shared Flood Risk Management Strategy. It’s backed by data. It’s aligned with EU standards. And it comes with a five-year action plan to reduce vulnerability across borders.
It’s not perfect. But it’s progress.

So, what now?

Are we ready to treat floods as more than just seasonal disasters? Can we act before, not just after, the next storm?
Rehabilitating KK-5 is a start. It won’t solve everything. But it gives people like Blerina, the teacher, the farmer, and Robert something they haven’t had in years: predictability.

The river may still rise. But with the right investments, people won’t have to sink with it.

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My mother still talks about Buna. It brings back memories—some joyful, others painful. Every time the rain begins, it finds its way into our conversations.

I told her about the work being done in Buna—how it will support women and men alike, how it will strengthen the local economy. This time, I said, people might not have to endure another flood. This time, things could be different.