Citizens and environmental initiatives demand that the process be returned to the beginning
The public discussion and presentation of the draft Regional Waste Management Plan for nine cities and municipalities of the “Duboko” region, held on September 18 in Užice, will be remembered as one of the most scandalous. Due to their objections and questions, the citizens suffered insults and discredits from the drafters, and there were no answers. Given that the discussion did not fulfill its task, the gathered citizens and environmental initiatives demand that the process be returned to the beginning, that a new working group be formed that will include representatives of the local population and credible experts, and that the draft Plan be prepared in accordance with the law.
“Those who were in charge of conducting the public hearing, the authorities from the city administration and PUK “Duboko”, tried not to be noticed by the citizens that they were present, and instead the expert team for the development of the mentioned plan, led by Prof. Dr. Sunčica Vještica, took over the leadership. It was not their role nor do they have the authority to act like that. Instead of answering the objections that we drew up, and a large number of citizens signed, we experienced the transfer of responsibility for systemic problems to the population, and personal insults activist. Professor Vještica called me a “blonde”, an act that caused great dissatisfaction among those present, after which the discussion was interrupted.” said Bojana Kostadinović from Libergraf.
One of the citizen’s remarks was related to the drainage water from the “Duboko” landfill, which flows into the Luznica river via Turski Potok. The Director of the Institute for Public Health in Užice, Dr. Marija Palikuća, admitted at a public hearing that water analyzes had not been done since May 7, 2024. Due to the carelessness of the authorities, the Citizens’ Reading Room Libergraf from Užice and the Right to Water initiative conducted independent analyzes of the surface water quality of Turski potok. The sample was taken on August 30, 2024, three months after the fire, by the accredited laboratory “Anahem” from Belgrade.
In his expert opinion on the results of the water test, Dušan Blagojević, a graduate technology engineer and licensed consultant for the development of disaster risk reduction plans, concludes that it is a case of large-scale contamination of surface water.
“The analyzes showed that the water in the Turk Stream is dead and should not be used for anything. There is no oxygen in the analyzed water at all.” . The limit for chemical consumption of oxygen, which is a measure of the organic load of water and an indicator of pollution, for waste water discharged into the sewage system is 500 mg/l. When the value is over 500 mg/l, waste water should not even be discharged into the sewage system. For a water stream of the fifth class, the HPK limit is 125, and in the Turk Stream, this parameter is even 1525 mg/l.” Blagojevic explains.
The values of phosphorus, iron, manganese, orthophosphate are several times higher than the limit value for the water stream of the fifth class, aluminum ion 29 times, while the nitrite concentrations are even 43 times higher. Barium, strontium, aluminum, cadmium, lead, mercury and many other dangerous elements were also found in the water. If, as is the case here, all the indicators are present in the water at the same time, it is completely clear that it is a matter of large-scale pollution.
“We decided to do the analyzes independently, due to the low level of trust of the population in the information they received from the institutions, only after the fire happened. Even though we knew the situation was not good, the results exceeded the worst doubts. This is obviously toxic water, pollution that must be remedied as a matter of urgency.” said Žaklina Živković from the Right to Water initiative.