The hardest blow to the clarity and the beauty of the river Zrmanja, consequences which we still feel today, came from the investment of the former state - bouxite factory near the town Obrovac. Sloppy research gave a hint that on the Bukovica area there are huge bauxite habitats. Later it was dismissed as preposterous, but at that time it was taken seriously and in the 70's an aluminum factory was built. As part of the technological process a need for an open reservoir next of concentrated lye appeared. In days when the bura was blowing, which during the winter has the strength of a hurricane, carried the lye around and endangered public roads but sank in the surrounding karst and without any filtering poured into the river. The factory "worked" for years without any profits, and finally closed down. But the factory still stands there and distorts the whole area and the view on beautiful Tulove grede, but that's not the worst. Oil is leaking into Zrmanja for a long time.

Hydro-technique procedure, which would change the landscape of Zrmanja, is building of a hydroelectric power plant "Velebit". Big amounts of water accumulated from many springs in the river Ričica flow down surface pipes down Velebit on turbines of RHE "Velebit" and come out into the artificial lake on Zrmanja. The same water is, during low energy consumption, pumped into the accumulation Ričice and the procedure is repeated in cycles. With the construction of RHE "Velebit" in 1978, part of the flow where Zrmanja split into two arms, was sunk, along with many falls (Šipkov buk, Devića buk etc.) The local population was also against construction, and they protested by laying in front of machines, because their centuries old fields were taken away, so "special militia" had to intervene.

And as if this isn't enough, over Zrmanja and Krupa there is a dark cloud of greedy monopolists. There are three hydro-electric plants to be built on Zrmanja: HE Zrmanja, HE Žegar and HE Ervenik, and in the Energy institute "Hrvoje Požar" there is a program for building 18 small hydro-electric plants in Dalmatia, 5 of which would be on Krupa. It is hard to imagine anything would be spared when they would build 5 hydroelectric power plants on a 7 km long river. Even worse, these plants on Krupa are first to be built in "experimental" purposes. Krupa as a "test site", for the energy experts maybe a success, but maybe a failure, carved with roads, devastated canyons and surrounded with wire fences. It would completely loose its identity and preserved clarity and intactness, and all that for miserable 2,8 MW (for comparison, only one of five hydro-electric plants on the river Cetina gives 600 MW).

Big damage to Zrmanja was done by the decision of the Ministry of agriculture and forestry, to allow fishing with nets in the lower flow, and fishermen throw nets over the whole river all the way to Jankovića buk. If we have in mind that the Zrmanja estuarium is important for spawning of various kinds of fish, with these methods the fish are killed in the beginning of their lives.

It is also not acceptable to use big pits, made by bauxite exploitation near Obrovac, as depos in which garbage is burned and dumped. Such wild depos aren't secured with a non-proof bottom, and various motor oils, detergents and other waste liquids are washed with rain from the thrown packages and quickly end in Zrmanja going through rocky soil. The vicinity of the road on the canyon over the river seemed convenient for disposing old cars, and the irresponsible owners used to push them over the cliff into the Zrmanja canyon. We hope that such perpetrators of this crazy acts, if any in the future, will be severly punished.

Rafting and canoe tourism is intensifying on Zrmanja and Krupa areas. But, in the ecologically sensitive structure of the river, there is a question mark behind these actions. The biggest problem is preservation of falls and travertine falls. In early spring months and in fall when there is enough water, and it covers the falls abundantly, there are no problems in going over with boats. But, during the summer, when tourism is at its peak, and the water level low, boats scrape off the travertine, breaking off large pieces. If we know that average growth of travertine is 1-3 cm annualy, we have to think about justification of these actions. Agencies which operate such tourism, often, in order to give their guests an attractive adventure, and make larger profits, brake down the barriers in order to make it easier for boats to pass. The solution of this problem lies in good management of this area, and revenue from this tourism on the river would be invested in constructing crossings over falls and resting places which would not disfigure the natural state of these rivers.