Serbia struggles with access to clean drinking water

Serbia does not have enough water, so around one million citizens are struggling to get consistent access to safe drinking water, according to activists who spoke to EURACTIV.rs.

In Serbia, only 55% of the population is connected to a sewerage system, most of which were built more than 30 years ago and use outdated technologies.

Regarding wastewater infrastructure, Serbia belongs to the group of medium-developed countries, while in terms of wastewater treatment, it is at the very bottom. A total of 47 cities and municipalities have wastewater treatment plants, of which 26 are in operation, two are under reconstruction, and five are in trial operation.

These are not the only problems faced by the population of Serbia when it comes to water, and Žaklina Živković and Strahinja Macić, activists of the “Right to Water” initiative who spoke to EURACTIV.

“The key problems of water supply in Serbia are the endangerment of water sources by pollution, the provision of a sufficient amount of healthy drinking water, large losses in the water supply network and the upcoming privatisation of utility companies. Serbia does not have enough water, so a million citizens have occasional access to healthy drinking water,” explains Macić.

“The situation in Vojvodina is perhaps the worst because groundwater reserves have been overexploited for a long time, so with the increase in depth, their quality also decreases significantly; there is no possibility to restore them. Groundwater reserves in the valleys of large rivers are significantly threatened by large-scale and almost uncontrolled exploitation of sand and gravel,” Macić added.

While Serbia has a Law on water, its implementation is problematic  ‐ a situation that does not bode well with the EU’s accession demands that call for large reforms in water management and significantly higher budgets for this area.

Rivers in flat parts of the country are the most polluted because of the large quantities of industrial, communal and mining waste water. On the other hand, rivers in areas with mountains or hills are affected by the construction of mini hydro power plants.

Like many parts of the world, Serbia is facing an unusually hot summer, and Živković stresses the importance of access to clean drinking water.

“Climate change is consequentially endangering human health. If we know that Serbia is in an area susceptible to drought, we must do everything to maintain the human right to clean drinking water,” Živković says.

As a member of the European water movement, this organisation has helped stop the project of a third hydropower plant on the Rupska River. The villagers had defended the river for 160 days with their own bodies. The efforts joined with a multilevel synergy, yielded results.

“The Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure cancelled the licence to build, while the Ministry of Energy’s inspection filed criminal and misdemeanour charges for numerous illegalities in the procedure. United and active, the people can preserve their natural assets”, concludes Živković.

(Aleksandra Vrbica | EURACTIV.rs)

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