A dead fish floats in the Čukarica backwater in Belgrade, right next to Ada Ciganlija. Carp, perch, pike, white fish, even ducks have been killed.
"In two days, just near the raft and the shore, I picked up over 400 kilograms of dead fish. They also came from the city hygiene, they took one part away, but we couldn't reach the other. A terrible smell is spreading", says Miša Jovanović from the Association of Čukarik creek lovers for RTS.
The old "culprit" - Topčiderska Reka - is suspected. The river, which is only thirty kilometers long, flows through industrial zones, landfills and settlements where feces are directly poured into the bed. And that's how it reaches the Sava.
The last time the Čukarica backwater was cleaned was four years ago, when 40.000 cubic meters of sediment were removed — the amount that can fill 16 Olympic swimming pools.
The Belgrade on the Move organization also appealed last year that the water be purified at the confluence of Topčiderka and Ruvac, but, as they say, the city authorities are not interested in it at all.
"Belgrade, a city on rivers, behaves as if it doesn't care about water. Gloves are poisoned, springs are concreted, sewage flows where it shouldn't, and responsibility is diluted. Citizens no longer know whether they are walking next to water or next to a biological bomb."
They warn that the Čukarica arm of Maltena is a closed system without natural circulation. "Without treatment, it turns into a cesspool. This tragedy was not a question of 'if,' but 'when.'"
