Today’s stormy weather in Belgrade, accompanied by heavy rainfall, caused major disturbances in the functioning of the city. Someone did not get to work today, someone could not be provided with emergency medical assistance, and someone’s residential and business premises became unusable. Someone’s life was also threatened.
Sewage network – neglected or overloaded
Year after year, PUK Belgrade Waterworks and Sewerage in its reports on operations indicates that the sewage network sector is facing problems of illegal construction, illegal connections to the network, and especially points to the problem of galloping investor urbanization. Construction and concreting reduce green areas, which increases the runoff coefficient in locations with an existing sewage network. The construction of a new sewage network and the increase in capacity do not sufficiently follow the degree of expansion of the city, and the existing system is brought to the extreme limits of endurance.
Green, we love you green
It would be said that the obvious importance of green infrastructure for health, quality of life, reduction of the heat island effect and flood protection does not need to be explained much. However, the decision makers deny us. To quote former mayor Sinisa Mali: “It’s just dead greenery.” According to the latest data from the generated urban plans, which were published by the Ministry of Space, from 2003 to today, the percentage of areas under public greenery has decreased from 19% to an astonishing 9%.
Public policies – a dead letter on paper
The floods that occurred could be predicted, and it would be more correct to say expected. In the valid acts of the city (Action Plan for Adaptations 2015, Mayor’s Agreement for Energy and Climate, 2018, Action Plan for Sustainable Energy Sources and Climate, 2021) the high risk of their occurrence and harmful consequences is determined. The key finding of the initial situation in these documents is the high vulnerability of the population due to high exposure and low adaptive capacity.
While the memory of the previous consequences of such storms is very vivid, adaptation measures remain a dead letter. In addition to the planned massive greening of the city, the city also adopted the Sustainable Urban Drainage Policy, which planned to improve the management of the city’s rainwater collectors and open channels for its drainage; Development of measures for flood protection, Collection and retention of storm water for the period 2021 – 2025, which planned the construction for the temporary storage of excess storm water with the capacity of hundred-year storage of runoff water and Plans for water retention. The gap between the declarative and the real is thus, in this area, comparable to a string.
Climate change requires changes in the work of institutions
The frequency and intensity of storms increased between 2009 and 2014, and according to climate models, the increasing intensity and frequency of storms during the summer months is expected to continue. Precipitation projections show that limited change is forecast for the summer months between 2021 and 2050 and a limited risk of heavy rainfall over a longer period of time.
Before various natural and supernatural forces begin to be identified as the cause and means of salvation, we hope that today’s devastating “torrential fist” will shatter the last illusions of the decision-makers that it is possible to continue as before, and that the outcome of their actions and inactions will be different. In such events, the amount of precipitation becomes a measure of the success or failure of the sum of our actions to (not) adapt to climate change and make the city a more pleasant and safer place to live.
In addition to the strategies listed in the Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade, we recommend that (ir)responsible individuals read the textbook Natural Conditions and Disasters in Planning and Protection of Space