The sight of ducks struggling to swim in sewage-choked Belgrade’s stinking rivers is something residents hope a long-promised sewage treatment plant will make a thing of the past.
“We are building impressive buildings where everything looks pristine, glassy and fancy. Yet right next to them, sewage drains straight into the river,” cyclist Zoran Bukvic complained to AFP.
Despite decades of commitments to clean up its waterways, the Serbian capital is the only one in Europe that discharges all its untreated sewage into its rivers.
Each year, the city of about 1.6 million people discharges enough sewage to fill 60,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools into the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, and its tributaries.
Hopes for the city’s water quality rose in June after authorities announced they had found bidders willing to build a much-needed sewage treatment plant.
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“If we had a treatment system, it wouldn’t be so problematic,” Branislav Bozovic, the former head of environmental protection in the Serbian capital, told AFP.
However, many of Belgrade’s previous water purification projects have been stuck in the development vacuum — with disastrous environmental consequences.
Delays and disappointments
On June 13, after years of anticipation, Serbia signed an agreement for French companies to finally build the sewage treatment plant that the capital’s residents desperately want.
Led by water and waste management giant Suez International SAS and Vinci Construction Grands Projets, the future plant is planned to be built in Palilula, a municipality of Belgrade on the left bank of the Danube.
Covering almost 100 hectares (247 acres) along the river, it promises to collect sewage from most districts of the city.
But before construction can begin, another unplanned infrastructure project must be completed.
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In 2020, Serbia signed a €204 million ($222 million) contract under China’s Belt and Road initiative to help clean up Belgrade’s sewage system.
The plan was for the Chinese company to build on an earlier water treatment network — itself only partially completed when more than 30 years of construction ended in 2012.
However, four years later, construction of the promised new sewage pumping stations at the Sava-Danube confluence has yet to begin.
Even if the Chinese complete the first phase of the project, the agreement for the French companies to build the plant itself is non-binding — leaving them free to walk away without consequence.
Meanwhile, sewage continues to clog the capital’s rivers.
To compound the problem, many factories also dump their waste into rivers.
“The whole ecosystem was poisoned”
The scale of the problem is clearest five kilometers (three miles) upstream from where the Danube and its main tributary the Sava meet.
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Milan Vasiljevic, who works at a local boat marina, describes the smell as “unbearable” and reports frequent discoveries of dead fish.
“Above is the Cukarica Rift where sewage is discharged, causing a strong smell, especially in the summer when the water levels drop,” he told AFP.
The Cukarica Rift is where the small but dirty Topciderka River flows into Sava, with athletes from a local rowing club often forced to brave its polluted waters.
Heavily polluted with feces and garbage, the scum in Topciderka is thick enough for a frog to stand on.
But even the Danube itself is not safe.
“This is one of Belgrade’s black spots,” Bozovic said, pointing to the riverside Zemun promenade near his home.
“In this area, there is a large discharge of sewage from the central part of the Zemun into the river.”
The former city official and retired hydrogeologist said the foul stench was a sign that Belgrade residents were “swallowing” the pollution, gesturing ruefully to a nearby playground.
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“The whole ecosystem is being poisoned by the decomposition of this sewage.”
It’s a problem not unique to the capital.
According to official estimates, Serbia treats less than 15 percent of its wastewater.
Authorities declined to give much on timelines or details on when they hope to clean up Belgrade’s rivers and did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Source: AFP