Journalists from Anadolia Agency examined the situation regarding water resources in Western Balkan countries and the rest of the world and found out that BiH has the richest water resources in the region, whereas Serbia has the poorest water resources. In comparison, BiH is seven times richer than Germany in renewable sources of drinking water.
According to data from the World Bank in 2012, which deals with renewable sources of water, BiH is a country with the largest quantities of potable water per capita. BiH, with 9.461 cubic meters of drinking water per capita is the first in the region and seventh in Europe. BiH’s water resources are richer than many other countries, such as China, France, Germany, Japan and the US.
Professor of Natural Sciences Faculty in Sarajevo Muriz Spahić told Anadolia that water is a tremendous resource, but the problem is an irrational approach to water in BiH. “This is a great and important natural resource, but water in BiH is utilized in an irrational way and in this way the environment is polluted and eventually more people are left without drinking water”, said Muriz Spahić.
He said that it is necessary to educate citizens that water is a resource that we cannot live without, adding that BiH with its water resources, which many refer to as “Balkan Nafta”, did not use this as a great competitive advantage. “The political concept in this country is such that entity and cantonal lines hinder the effective protection of water so that they cannot protect its natural basin as required by the Charter for the Protection of Water”, said Spahić.
Professor Spahić stresses that BiH has to focus more on export and distribution of water to countries that have a deficit in the area of water resources. Specifically, according to the Administration for Indirect Taxation, in BiH in the first 11 months in 2012 34.57 tons of water was imported worth around 7.9 million euros, while the total export amounts to 15.253 tons for 7.9 million euros. According to this, BiH every year on average for imports loses around 6 million euros.
