Floating waste once again buried the Drina river near Višegrad, confirming that the measures taken so far have not led to a permanent solution to the problem that has been recurring for years, especially during the winter months when rains and torrents carry garbage from unorganized landfills upstream. Activists warn that a large deposit of plastic, packaging and other municipal waste has again accumulated on the surface of the Drina, forming a floating landfill in front of the reservoir of the hydroelectric power plant in Višegrad.
Such scenes, similar to those that are repeated every year and that attracted the attention of the media and activists in the past, clearly indicate that a systemic solution to the source of the problem has not been found.
In the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of the Republika Srpska, said to Fena news agency that the problem of the accumulation of floating waste on the Drina River near Višegrad can only be solved permanently by removing wild and unorganized landfills upstream, but that for this there is a lack of full regional coordination of the three countries from which the waste comes.
The Ministry states that, as the competent authority for waste management, they are actively involved and appeal to solve this problem, which, as they point out, also occurs in other parts of the RS.
They add that, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of environmental protection between the ministries of the RS and Serbia, work is being done to jointly solve problems characteristic of border areas, including the Drina river.
“However, the responsible ministry from Montenegro, despite the efforts of the RS and Serbia, is not sufficiently engaged in solving this issue. We remind you that in 2019 and 2021, mixed expert working groups were formed, and that a trilateral meeting of the ministers responsible for environmental protection of Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the then competent ministry from Montenegro was held, but there was no concrete progress or removal of the cause of the problem,” the Ministry of RS ecology claims.
They say that since 2019, every time there is an accumulation of waste, the Ministry sends requests for urgent measures to be taken to protect the operation of Višegrad Hydroelectric Power Plant and Elektroprivreda RS, as well as to prevent pollution of the Drina River.
According to them, the requests were sent to the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Serbia, the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism of Montenegro and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The initiative to hold a meeting in Visegrad was launched in 2023, but the meeting did not take place because the participation of all those invited, primarily representatives from Montenegro, was not confirmed,” the Ministry points out.
They emphasize that a permanent solution is possible only by removing wild and local landfills upstream, from the banks of the Drina, Lim, Rzava, Tara and their tributaries, and remind that waste management is the responsibility of local self-government units.
“The local self-government units upstream of the reservoir in all three states have an obligation to remove landfills from the banks of the rivers, which would prevent the accumulation of floating waste,” the Ministry states.
As additional causes of the problem, they highlight the underdeveloped system of environmentally acceptable waste management in all three countries, irresponsible waste disposal by individuals and companies, as well as insufficient awareness of citizens about the importance of environmental protection.
The Ministry says that it is necessary to continue and intensify the cooperation between the competent institutions from the three countries in order to prevent the repetition of the situation from year to year.
The Drina, known for its emerald waters and tourist potential, has once again been replaced by the sight of a floating landfill, which further confirms that the current measures have not solved the basic problem of the source of waste, its management and regional government coordination.
The workers of Hidroelektrana Višegrad pull out between 6,000 and 8,000 cubic meters of floating waste from the Drina annually. They warn that they cannot solve this problem on their own.
