The police in Pljevlje are investigating the circumstances under which a minor environmental incident occurred the day before yesterday at the reservoir in Otilovići, when a liquid, which is assumed to be petroleum or motor oil, spilled from one of the supporting barrels of a wooden raft with a house floating in the lake.
The police are determining who the owner of the raft is and whether he had permission to set it up on the lake from which the city is supplied with water.
The owner of the reservoir in Otilovići is Elektroprivreda Crne Gore, which uses water from the Otilovići lake for the needs of the Thermal Power Plant Pljevlja.
According to unofficial information, the raft was anchored a few kilometers upstream from the dam, but most likely due to the strong wind it broke loose and floated in the lake. The raft stopped at the dam, where a stain was noticed on the surface of the water that resembled an oil or oil stain.
President of the Sports-Fishing Club "Lipljen" Vaso Knežević said that they are not responsible for the boats and rafts that are on the lake, because, as he said, they only manage the fishing waters in the territory of the municipality of Pljevlja.
"Someone else is responsible for setting up the rafts. Every vessel should have a permit for this. It is not regulated in our country", said Knežević.
The sanitary and environmental protection company "Hemosan" from Bar, which specializes in remediation of all types of incidents both on land and at sea, will be involved in eliminating the consequences of the environmental incident.
Immediately after a stain was noticed on the surface of the lake from where water is drawn for the city, the municipal company Vodovod warned citizens not to use drinking water from all three city springs, from which Pljevlja is supplied with water.
Vodovod announced that the flow of water from the reservoir in Otilovići to the "Pliješ" plant was immediately stopped.
Before that, the citizens were informed that there was no drinking water from all three sources from which Pljevlja is supplied with water. Earlier, the Vodovod company announced that because of this, the flow of water from the Otilovići reservoir to the "Pliješ" plant was stopped by turning off the "Potpliješ" pumping plant.
"Vodovod reacted immediately by taking samples of raw water at the pumping station by the internal laboratory of DOO Vodovod, and based on the physical and chemical parameters measured, no significant change in water quality could be observed compared to the previous days, considering that Vodovod carries out daily physico-chemical analyzes of water", the announcement of Vodovod states.
Vodovod informed the Public Health Institute of Montenegro about the new situation, so that the Institute will take raw water samples from the Orilovići reservoir, as well as water samples from the city network.
Prevented further continuation of restrictions
In agreement with the Institute for Public Health, in Montenegro, water from the Otilovići reservoir was released to the "Pliješ" plant again yesterday, thus preventing further restrictions that were planned.
"The recommendation of DOO Vodovod and the Institute for Public Health is that the water from all three sources is not for drinking, nor for food preparation, only for technical use. This measure will be in effect until the final findings of the Institute for Public Health of Montenegro. The Institute for Public Health will perform extraordinary water sampling and analysis, so that consumers will be informed about all changes in a timely manner", announced the Waterworks.
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