Association 3e, Network of Inspectors of Serbia and NALED launched today the "Water Month" campaign, during which all interested citizens, businesses and civil society organizations will be able to use the website jpd.rs  nominate proposals for the protection of water resources. The campaign is part of the project "Public-Private Dialogue for Development" implemented by NALED and the Republican Secretariat for Public Policies, and supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

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During the campaign, representatives of the economy, civil society organizations, local self-government units, inspectors, the professional public and all interested citizens will have the opportunity to become part of a broad public-private dialogue within which they will be able to familiarize themselves with domestic and European regulations in the field of water protection, best practices and solutions, but also to point out the challenges themselves and offer recommendations for improving the wastewater system, through the contact form on the website www.jpd.rs.

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The partners in the project are also preparing an analysis of the state of wastewater management in Serbia, which has already identified cooperation between the economy and local governments on the construction of treatment plants, harmonization of regulations and strengthening of inspection supervision, as well as mapping of all direct wastewater discharges into rivers and sewers as potential solutions.

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These and other potential improvements in water protection were also discussed at today's webinar for the economy, dedicated to the rulebook that will expand the obligation to report on discharged water from more than 860 (of which only 330 reported) to 4,500 companies.

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The next online workshop with representatives of reference water quality testing laboratories is planned for December 15, and the last one (December 23) will present the analysis and recommendations obtained through the public-private dialogue, while the final analysis will be delivered to the public and institutions after the end of the campaign.

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During the "Water Month" campaign, we want to introduce businessmen to the best practices that will help them align their business with regulations. The European regulation stipulates that companies that discharge waste water must harmonize their emissions with the prescribed values by 2025 and solve the problem of purification. Until then, they need to prepare an action plan according to which they will gradually reduce the amount of pollution and report it to the competent institutions. In addition, it is important to improve inspection supervision through the possible lowering of competences to the local level, because the observance of regulations in this area is controlled by only six republican inspectors - says Srđan Gajić, president of the Association for Education, Ecology and Energy (3e).

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Currently, between 5% and 10% of water is purified in Serbia, and of the total of 400 million cubic meters discharged annually, the largest part comes from households, of which less than two thirds are connected to the sewage system. This is followed by industry, which, according to the data of the Bureau of Statistics, released 119 million cubic meters in 2019.

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Gajić points out that a big problem in this area is ignorance of regulations and poor communication between businessmen and local governments. Considering the large investments expected by both sectors, better cooperation is necessary in order to arrive at the best solutions for the purification of both municipal and industrial water.

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Part of the problem can be solved by local governments by developing their facilities. In the past few decades, a little more than 50 plants were built, of which about 30 are in operation, and only a dozen work according to the highest standards. Cities and municipalities with local plants have a greater advantage in attracting investments, because they save investors millions of dollars on the development of their own capacities.

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In addition to 1.5 billion euros, which is necessary for the facilities, local governments will have to invest 2.5 billion in the renovation of the existing and the construction of a new sewage network, in order to successfully collect waste water and direct it to treatment plants. This would help to increase the number of households that are covered by some level of wastewater treatment, which is only slightly more than 10%.

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Currently, between 5% and 10% of waste water is treated in Serbia, and of the total of 400 million cubic meters discharged annually, the largest part comes from households, of which less than two thirds are connected to the sewage system. This is followed by industry, which, according to the data of the Bureau of Statistics, released 119 million cubic meters last year. The biggest polluters are the sectors of processing industry (47%), electricity supply (42.3%) and mining (10.7%).