Prolonged drought and extremely high temperatures have brought rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina to critically low water levels. Some riverbeds have almost dried up, and experts warn that the problem is not only the current lack of water, but also the long-term consequences for the ecosystem and underground supplies.
Most of the rivers in BiH are currently at a minimum. Scenes of bare river bottoms and extremely low water levels have been recorded across the country, and the state of the Bosna River is particularly worrying. The locals of Zenica say that they don’t remember it being this shallow.
The long-term lack of precipitation has consequences for water sources and reservoirs. Hydrologists warn that underground water supplies are being used up, but also that they need time to restore.
“These water supplies that are formed underground and they are expendable and they are usable and they disappear, everything is consumed like other resources, but these resources must be renewed,” warned hydrologist Muriz Spahić.
A special problem is the fact that the low water level threatens river ecosystems. In some places, the river flow has already been interrupted, which can have consequences for the entire food chain.
“Currently, the water level is really low, there are some rivers where the river flow is even interrupted, and if one building element of the ecosystem is threatened, the entire ecosystem can come into trouble and the entire food chain,” says ecologist Ismir Smajić.
The announced rainfall could temporarily improve the situation, but experts warn that the short-term rains are not enough to compensate for the long-term water deficit. Underground reservoirs take much longer to restore.
Low water levels thus represent another warning about the consequences of long-term droughts and high temperatures, which are increasingly affecting water resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
