January 14, 2021

Islands of garbage in one of Europe’s cleanest rivers

topic:	Pollution
located:	Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro
editor:	Katarina Panić

The Drina, one of the cleanest European rivers, came under the spotlight this month again after shocking footage showed the water's surface covered by piles of garbage, old furniture, rusty barrels, plastic bottles and bags, car tires, construction debris and other rubbish. 

The stench is growing all around.

The river flows through Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina - all three of which have poor waste management, and all are countries aspiring for European Union membership. Although the dumping of waste on the shores is prohibited, none of these states can comply with this rule. 

For decades, citizens have been throwing waste along the river and its tributaries, forming the wild dumps. Due to heavy rainfall and melting snow during the winter, the swollen waters pass through landfills in the area, carrying a huge amount of waste that stops at the dam. The hydroelectric plant Višegrad removes six to eight thousand cubic meters of floating waste from the Drina river every year. Ten days ago, the excavators began pulling garbage out of the water, estimated to total at about four thousand cubic meters. It proceeds so slowly, that it looks like a never-ending story.

The garbage islands threaten both to clog up the dam and spark an ecological disaster. Three countries held a trilateral meeting two years ago. They agreed to form teams to resolve the issue. Although the activists have been warning all the time that the population's health must come first, nothing has happened since. 

"The whole ecosystem is under attack because so much plastic is floating in the river, the garbage dump is located 400 or 500 meters from us, and it is a vicious circle. We take the garbage out of the river to the landfill, which is often set on fire, or when it rains, the waste goes into groundwater and returns to the Drina river," Dejan Furtula from the Eco Centre Višegrad told local media.

Additionally, the Sarajevo-based Centre for Investigative Reporting has revealed that Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have never established the border. Some 3,600 hectares of land along the Drina river are beyond the control of institutions on either side. This absence of authority suits the illegal mining of the gravel, illegal waste disposal and illegal construction. What comes first in no man's land? Environment certainly does not.

Image by mmmmrvica.

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