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Hazardous pollution of Montenegrin river Zeta

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The ancestors of the inhabitants of the village of Grbe divided the estates to the heirs, so that everyone gets a piece that goes ashore. Therefore, the estates along the Zeta are mostly long and narrow. The inhabitants of this village near Spuž are thinking of leaving their properties and looking for another, less dangerous place. They want what they think is acquired by birth – the right to clean air, water and food.

“The right to life, nothing else,” says local Goran Djurickovic.

This tributary of the Morača and a part of the Adriatic basin, 86 kilometers long, originates from the waters from the north of the country that sink into the Nikšić field. Purified in the bowels of the earth they appear at the place of the Head of Zeta. Once rich in fish and flora, in the lower reaches, instead of a source of life, it has become a dangerous canal into which the wastewater of numerous companies flows. The fish stock is almost destroyed, and the locals fear that their health is also endangered.

“We asked the Institute of Public Health of Montenegro to control the health of people from that area, because we have had a high mortality rate due to cancer for several years, which was not the case in previous years. The Institute told us that they could not comment on this request now due to the increased workload due to the coronavirus epidemic, “Djurickovic told the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and Monitor (CIN-CG / BIRN / Monitor).

The Institute did not answer questions about whether and when they intend to check the allegations of the locals Grba and why this has not been done so far.

According to the CIN-CG / BIRN / Monitor survey, this situation is primarily the responsibility of the Water Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, inspection services and government departments that allow serious pollutants to operate, although these companies often do not have environmental consent permit and other evidence of the quality of the substances discharged into the river and the impact on the environment.

The Water Administration does not yet have a register of pollutants. From the pipes of companies to which this Directorate did not issue a permit, the journalist CIN-CG / BIRN / Monitor was convinced that wastewater is still coming out.

Laboratories without equipment

 

A specialist veterinary laboratory examined the caught fish from Zeta in October last year. After cooking, they found an “unpleasant odor uncharacteristic of this type of fish.”

Tests of the Department for Water Quality of the Hydrometeorological Institute of Montenegro (HMZCG) during 2019 showed that Zeta has very poor physical-chemical and biological characteristics. The last time the analysis was done was in November last year.

“The waters of the rivers Morača, Bojana, Ćehotina and Zeta had a very bad status. The waters of Cijevna, Gračanica, Lima, Lješnica, Ljubovidja and Ibar had a bad status, and these are sections of the lower reaches, “the analysis reads. It also shows that there are fewer invertebrates in Zeta that are more sensitive to a polluted environment! The samples were taken “near the mouth in Morača, in Vranje fields”.

HMZCG could not answer how the “very bad status” affects the fish stock and agricultural products from the fields that are irrigated from the river, and thus the health of the population.

Source: cin-cg.me

 

 

 

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