Kosovo Reservoir Transparency

No publicly accessible current reservoir storage volume or fill percentage data has been identified for any of Kosovo's major reservoirs (Gazivoda/Ujmani, Batlava/Batllava, Badovac/Badovci, Radoniqi). IHMK operates a network of 27+ automatic hydrological stations transmitting readings every 4 hours, but the station map does not include dedicated reservoir storage gauges and no reservoir-level dashboard is publicly accessible on ihmk-rks.net. The Kosovo Environmental Information portal (environmentaldata.rks-gov.net) hosts a Hydrography Dataset but it contains basin coverage and monitoring-station geometry, not storage time-series. Reservoir-level figures cited in news media and World Bank documents derive from operational records held internally by Ibar-Lepenac (for Gazivoda) and the Regional Water Company Pristina (for Batlava and Badovac), neither of which publishes this data online. The Global Open Data Index noted that Kosovo's water data reports lack actual data tables meeting minimum openness criteria. A ResearchGate scientific publication (2022) presents a daily time-series of Gazivoda storage levels (2006–2020) reconstructed from operational records, confirming the data exists but is not publicly released by the competent authorities. Score 8 reflects near-total absence of publicly posted current storage data.

No REST API, bulk download, or open machine-readable format has been found for Kosovo reservoir data from any government source. The IHMK website presents automatic station readings on an interactive map with no documented API or data export. The Kosovo open-data developer portal (opendatakosovo.org) lists a single water API published by KEPA, which covers river surface-water quality measurements only — not reservoir storage. The environmental data portal (environmentaldata.rks-gov.net) was unreachable during evaluation attempts (ECONNREFUSED), suggesting unreliable uptime. IHMK publishes PDF yearbooks (most recently 2015–2016 confirmed available in English; a 2017–2018 edition exists; the 2024 yearbook is referenced on ammk-rks.net but its contents are not confirmed online) that contain river water-level tables but no reservoir volumetric data and are not machine-readable. No registration requirement could be evaluated because no data portal with actual reservoir data was found. Score 5 reflects structural absence of any technical access pathway.

Methodology v1.3.0 (capacity-weighted). Kosovo's qualifying national reservoir capacity is approximately 357 hm³, dominated by Gazivoda/Ujmani (~357 hm³, politically contested with Serbia) plus Radoniqi (~125 hm³), Batlava/Batllava (~32 hm³), Badovac (~27 hm³) and Perlepnica (~10 hm³). IHMK operates 27+ automatic stations transmitting every 4 hours but covers river gauging rather than reservoir volumes; the Gazivoda data resides with Serbian entity JP Ibar under no formal bilateral data-sharing agreement. Covered capacity is 0 hm³. Coverage = round(100 × 0 / 357) = 0.

IHMK publishes PDF Hydrometeorological Yearbooks in English, with confirmed editions for 2014 and 2015–2016 available online, and a 2017–2018 edition referenced by the AMMK publications page. These yearbooks contain river water-level daily time-series for gauging stations but do not include reservoir storage volumes for Gazivoda, Batlava, or Badovac. The most recent yearbook confirmed online dates from 2017–2018, representing a gap of at least seven years to the evaluation date. The ammk-rks.net AMMK publications page references a 2024 hydrometeorological yearbook, but its URL was not accessible and its content unconfirmed. A peer-reviewed 2022 ResearchGate publication presents Gazivoda daily storage levels for 2006–2020 reconstructed from operational data, demonstrating that multi-decade operational records exist in institutional custody. The Global Reservoir Observed Water Levels (GROWL) dataset (2026, Scientific Data) compiled publicly available in-situ levels globally; Kosovo reservoirs are not cited as included. Historical machine-readable reservoir storage is effectively inaccessible to the public. Score 10 reflects the existence of institutional archives not matched by any public access pathway.

IHMK's automatic hydrological stations transmit readings every 4 hours and these appear on a map interface on the IHMK website. However, this infrastructure monitors river gauging stations, not dedicated reservoir storage gauges, and the readings are not explicitly accessible as downloadable time-series. No reservoir-specific update cadence can be verified because no public reservoir data portal exists. The water-quality API on opendatakosovo.org covers river quality, not storage. Ibar-Lepenac and RWC Pristina presumably track reservoir levels in real time for operational purposes, but none of this data is published on any schedule. The AMMK State of Water in Kosovo report was last confirmed published in 2020. Score 8 reflects that even if operational updates occur internally, public update frequency is effectively zero for reservoir storage data.

Kosovo's IHMK operates under WMO membership and uses the MCH (Meteorological, Climatological and Hydrological Database Management System), an open-source WMO-promoted platform, as its data management backbone — this is stated in the 2015–2016 yearbook. The yearbook prefaces describe the hydrometric station network, river gauging methods, and that data is aggregated to daily mean values. However, no methodology document for reservoir storage measurement has been identified: no bathymetric survey data, no level-to-volume conversion curves, no uncertainty documentation for reservoir fill calculations is publicly available. The operations of Gazivoda are governed by an informal arrangement between JP Ibar (Serbia) and Ibar-Lepenac (Kosovo) with no published joint methodology. The IWRM-K Phase 2 programme (Swiss SDC, 2024–2029) is actively working to align Kosovo's monitoring with EU Water Framework Directive standards, which may improve methodological documentation in future cycles. Score 15 credits WMO-aligned river gauging methods being documented in yearbooks, offset by complete absence of reservoir-specific methodology.

English is widely used in Kosovo and official state websites routinely offer English-language versions. The IHMK website (ihmk-rks.net) presents content in Albanian, English, and Serbian, with the navigation and institutional pages fully accessible in English. The hydrometeorological yearbooks for 2014 and 2015–2016 are published in English. The AMMK State of Water in Kosovo 2020 report is available in English. The World Bank Water Security Outlook for Kosovo (2019) and multiple EU-funded project reports are in English. The ARRU water regulator website offers English pages. Kosovo's EU candidacy means that official documentation increasingly targets English-language audiences. The principal limitation is that even the English-language content provides no actual reservoir storage data, so language accessibility is academic in the absence of underlying data. Score 55 reflects genuinely good English-language access to the institutional and contextual layer, with no English-language data layer to access.