"Vreme" asked local water supply companies throughout Serbia how the water supply is going during this intense heat. The answers about the state of the water supply system are partly devastating
In the tropical heat Majdanpek has been without for days water. A state of emergency was declared due to the shortage. The director of the local waterworks stated that citizens will have water from 6 to 10 am and from 14 to 18 pm.
There is water in Kragujevac, but it can be - yellow. The city waterworks say that it is working. The cause of the discolored water, as the waterworks director Nebojša Jakovljević told Beta, is increased consumption, which has increased the water pressure through the pipes, which are on average 40 years old.
The residents of Topola, Šabac, Aleksinac and other cities in Serbia also had a problem with the restrictions. On days when the temperature reaches forty degrees, many citizens did not have water, and others were limited in their use.
"Vreme" asked what the situation was in cities across Serbia.
Problems in Barajevo
"The water sometimes disappears, especially in the summer, but we don't wait long for repairs," Ivana from Grocka tells us.
Although the authorities say that the water in this Belgrade neighborhood is safe to drink, most people buy bottled water. "Because it tastes weird and we just use it for showers, laundry and irrigation."
The Belgrade water supply system records increased water consumption during the days of the heat wave. They say for "Vreme" that the supply is stable and that there are no restrictions.
"Currently, the only point with partial problems in water supply are the peripheral parts of the Municipality of Barajevo", say the water supply company and add that the cause is a multiple increase in consumption.
The average consumption of the entire part of Barajevo usually does not exceed 200 liters per second, while now the consumption goes over 700 liters per second.
There is also water theft.
The period of tropical temperatures is not the only reason for the disappearance of water in households.
"Breakdowns occur due to a combination of various factors, such as the age of legally built networks, the extremely low quality of illegally built networks, enormous water consumption, sudden and frequent fluctuations in flow and pressure in pipes, inadequate and non-compliant execution of construction works by individual contractors, illegal connections to the water supply network, theft of water and much more", they list for "Vreme" from the Novi Sad water supply.
They add that the city and suburban settlements that are part of their water supply system consume over one hundred million liters of water per day.
In regions such as Užice, which are known for the production of raspberries, water is badly needed because droughts can be fatal for farmers.
The Užice waterworks announce that in the midst of the raspberry harvest in suburban and rural areas, consumption is up to five times higher than in April or May. However, so far they have had no need for restrictions.
Large consumers are tolerated as long as their water consumption does not endanger others. However, when the situation changes, the water company issues an appeal and a warning. If consumers do not accept, they are disconnected from the water supply.
"We have pipelines in the system that were installed as early as 1938, but it is not the biggest problem because these pipelines are often in better condition than those installed in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs," Duško Ljujić from Užice JKP "Vodovod" tells us.
"We manage over 450 kilometers of different pipelines where we overcome over 450 meters above sea level, from the lowest to the highest point. It is completely clear how complicated and demanding the system is," he adds.
Much higher consumption
In Kragujevac, we are told that the number of accidents during hot days and drought increased by 35 percent compared to the rest of the year.
The main cause of accidents, as they say, is increased water consumption, which results in a stronger and faster flow through water pipes. The city of Kragujevac is supplied with water through old wells on the Velika Morava and two artificial reservoir lakes (Gružansko and Grošničko). Due to the drought, the water level in the lakes and rivers dropped drastically.
"An additional problem is created by the subsidence of the land as a result of the drought," the executive director for network maintenance Trajko Stanić tells us. He says, then it goes without saying that breakdowns first occur on older installations.
During the third heat wave, water consumption at the level of the entire city increased by a quarter on average. In rural areas, the percentage is significantly higher.
"In the case of some consumers living at the geodesically highest points, as a consequence of increased consumption, there was an occasional decrease in water pressure in pointe shoes consumption", adds Stanić and emphasizes that there have been no planning restrictions and that they hope there won't be any.
The case of Topola, Šabac, as well as Aleksinac, in which a state of emergency was declared due to an accident on the pipeline in the immediate vicinity of the "Bresje" water processing plant, remains incomplete because the waterworks there did not respond to the inquiries of "Vremen".
As Juzne Vesti learns, the Aleksinac water supply announced that the analyzes showed that the water is suitable for drinking, which means that after 13 days the citizens of Aleksinac will be able to expect water at their taps.
Zrenjanin – a story for itself
Zrenjanin, the town with poisoned water, has stopped being news for a while. "There are many causes, but I would single out the complete neglect of investment in infrastructure, the general devastation of Zrenjanin, and politics above the profession," Senka Jankov, professor of sociology in Zrenjanin, tells "Vreme" and explains that the issue of water quality has stopped being of interest to both the government and the opposition.
"Water shortages in Zrenjanin are not related to the season, but much more to the durability and durability of repairs - not only on water pipes, but also on city pumps and substations," says Jankov.
Frequent news on the website of the Waterworks and Sewerage in Zrenjanin are "accidents", breakdowns, closed streets that signal work on new pipes, burst pipes and rehabilitation of the network.
The cause of breakdowns, as explained to "Vreme" by the waterworks, is the age of the network, and usually the breakdowns are repaired in three to four hours. Irrational consumption was most pronounced between 18 pm and 22 pm.
"About three quarters of the network is made of asbestos-concrete pipes, which is extremely bad because asbestos is prohibited for use. Part of it is made of plastic pipes and a small part is cast pipes. The biggest drawback is the low bandwidth in some parts of the network, which is over 30 years old," says Miroslav Paunov, a member of the Green-Left Front from Zrenjanin.
How much does the disappearance of water affect the citizens of Zrenjanin and part of Vojvodina, when, as Paunov and Senka point out, the water is not suitable for drinking?
As Paunov explains, the water contains excessive amounts of arsenic, a high content of iron, ammonium ions, sodium and a high content of organic matter, and the presence of methane has been observed in some localities.
"The area of the narrow zone on the Zrenjanin-Žitište line is distinctly characterized by the aforementioned poor hydro-chemical characteristics. The ban on its use was introduced in 2004," Paunov recalls.
A topic that does not concern politics
Water shortages and malfunctions throughout Serbia are most evident during hot weather. Plumbers assure that everything is under control, but appeal for rational use.
Just talking about the problem is not the solution, concrete plans and the interest of the government and the opposition are needed.
"The notorious problem is the lack of money for communal infrastructure, the weak political will to solve the problems, probably because it is a politically unattractive topic, and the health problems of consuming defective water have a cumulative effect, they do not show up in a short period of time," Jankov concludes.
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