Daily Times

A team of workers descended upon an artificial lake in Serbia today to clear the vast stretch of waste floating on its surface. Two barges sailed up and down the polluted waters to collect the thick layer of plastic and waste that had accumulated at the foot of the Lim River hydro-electric power plant on the Potpe? Reservoir in southwest Serbia following heavy rains earlier this year.

The river Lim has carried in more than 20,000 cubic metres of plastics from unregulated dumps along its banks in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, according to activists.

This morning workers began to remove the swathes of waste, dubbed the ‘Potpe? accumulation’, covering the lake’s surface after authorities in Belgrade ordered an immediate clean-up.

Operators collected up to 100 cubic metres of plastic and other waste before taking it to a landfill about 80km away.

‘This problem is years old and it is difficult to say who is responsible, … from its source, the Lim river … flows through three states,’ Dragan Ljeljen, a official from the nearby town of Priboj, told Reuters. To counter the problem, Serbia’s Environment Minister, Irena Vujovic, and officials from Montenegro and Bosnia agreed on Monday to coordinate efforts to prevent further pollution.

In Priboj, environmental activist Slavisa Lakovic said the persistent pollution was harming wildlife and fish in the lake.

‘Piling up trash affects the quality of water and reduces the quantity of oxygen in it … animals are coming to the banks to rummage through trash,’ he said. Last week cranes and building machinery were sent to the lake in Serbia to clear the thick layer of waste covering its surface. Serbia, like the other Balkan nations, is overwhelmed by communal waste after decades of neglect and lack of efficient waste-management policies. The formation of waste, dubbed the ‘Potpe? accumulation’, amassed following heavy snow and rain in December and January. The swollen waterways swept over landfill sites, carrying the waste to the foot of the dam.

The surface of the lake became covered in a thick layer of waste ranging from plastics to rusty metal scraps, tree trunks and even reportedly a coffin.

The garbage has been swept downstream by the Lim River, which feeds the Potpe?’s 150ft tall and 700ft long dam. The Lim originates in neighbouring Montenegro, passing through several municipalities and their waste sites in both Montenegro and Serbia.

‘Based on a recent study, we found out that in these towns, in the five municipalities in Montenegro and three in Serbia, about 45,000 tons of waste are collected (per year),’ said Predrag Saponjic, the Lim River hydropower plant system manager.

Looking at the rubbish-strewn lake, he added that ‘even if only a fraction of that waste ends up in the Lim River, we get this.’ Environmentalists in the Balkans have warned that because most landfills aren’t managed properly they leak toxic materials into rivers, threatening ecosystems and wildlife.

Bosnia too has reported a garbage pileup that endangers the hydroelectric dam on the Drina River, near the eastern town of Visegrad.

The Lim is one of the tributaries of the Drina, which makes their waterways – and garbage flows – closely connected.

The two emerald-coloured rivers – the Drina flows along the border between Serbia and Bosnia – during summer are favoured by adventurers and water rafters who enjoy the winding waterways and seemingly pristine nature.

While Balkan nations have been struggling to recover following a series of wars and crises in the 1990s, environmental issues often come last for the countries whose economies are lagging far behind the rest of Europe and where public funds are vulnerable to widespread corruption.

Jugoslav Jovanovic, from Serbia’s state-run Srbijavode company that is in charge of the country’s water system, put the waste problem down to ‘our neglect and lack of care.’ Landfills are located too close to rivers and are overfilled rather than closed down over the years, he warned. ‘If we find ourselves forced to do this year after year, then that’s not really a solution,’ he said of the clearing operation. ‘We must find common ground and solve this by joining forces.’

Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia have held meetings on the issue but little has been done. The Balkan countries also face other environmental emergencies, including dangerous levels of air pollution in many cities. Experts predict the clearing of Potpec lake will take few weeks, depending on the weather. However, all the garbage from the water will end up again on a landfill in western Serbia.

Goran Rekovic, an activist from the nearby town of Priboj, said raising public awareness about pollution is a key goal, along with ‘institutional and systematic’ solutions. These are needed also if Serbia and other Balkan countries wish to move closer to EU membership. ‘This is not European Union’s obligation. We should not be doing this for them,’ Rekovic said. ‘The reason why we should take care of our environment is for our own future generations.’