The Regional Waterworks (RV) of the Montenegrin Coast announced that on December 26, they will have to stop distributing water to the coast, because, as they stated, the issuing of the Decision on sanitary zones for the protection of the "Boljeestra" source has been blocked for a long time. Otherwise, as they said, they can be held responsible for the illegal distribution of water.
They said that they were unpleasantly surprised that the approval of the sanitary protection zones of that source was refused and called on the Water Administration to make a decision as soon as possible.
They claim, among other things, that the commission formed by the Water Administration was made up "of a number of persons who are intensively fighting for the continuation of illegal exploitation of gravel and sand, which brings millions of profits to its perpetrators", that is, that the Water Administration formed a commission whose members are in conflict of interest.
"After the unargued and tendentious refusal of the commission formed by the Water Administration to give consent on the sanitary protection zones of the source of 'Boljeestra', time will quickly tell whether we will again be in the jaws of illegal exploiters of gravel and sand. unanimously decided to accept the responses of the expert team of the company Geoprojekt DOO to the Report of the expert team on the Main Project on the determination and maintenance of sanitary protection zones and belts for the spring "Boljestra" of the Regional Waterworks of the Montenegrin Coast, which it received from the Water Administration. We believe that It is clear to everyone how important the issue of determining the zones and belts of sanitary protection of the source of the 'Boljestra' is for our Company, since it represents one of the basic prerequisites for obtaining a water license and for performing our basic activity - ensuring an orderly water supply of the Montenegrin coast. "surprised by the attitude of the Water Administration and the expert team that prepared the report in question, which almost completely disputes the extensive research on which the Main Project on the determination and maintenance of sanitary protection zones and zones for the source of 'Boljeestra' was based," said RV.
They believe that the part of the report which states that, "based on the attached data on the water quality" of the Morača and Cijevna rivers and the source of Boljesestra, is particularly debatable, "it can be stated with certainty that there is no connection between them".
"Therefore, this completely negates the connection between the drastic lowering of the Morača riverbed, which actually led to a decrease in the water level, which, again, was accompanied by a drastic drop in the yield of the source of the 'Boljeestra'. In this way, through this report and the claims of the expert team of the Water Administration, the value of all the efforts that LLC "Regionalni vodovod Crnogorsko primorje" invests in the protection of the source of "Boljesestra", i.e., in properly serving the public interest, first of all, to the citizens who are obliged to provide an orderly water supply, and then, to a sustainable to the development of tourism on the Montenegrin coast," added the RV.
As they state, the commission formed by the Water Administration refused to accept the "Main project on the determination and maintenance of sanitary protection zones and belts for the source of 'Boljesestra'" of the Montenegrin Coast Regional Water Supply, which was carried out as part of the scientific study "Monitoring, control and protection "Boljeestra" springs.
"The study was carried out by a consortium: Geoprojekt doo, Aquaterra ZT GesmbH and Gea Protekta PR, which was financed from the IPA INTERREG CBC IT-AL-MNE program. The most eminent experts from the country and abroad were hired to prepare the Study, i.e. the Main Project a number participated in the expert selection of 'Boljesesta' as the source that will supply water to the Montenegrin coast, as well as in the preliminary determination of the sanitary protection zones of this source. The surprise of not receiving a Decision is all the greater because the Main Project was revised by the renowned company 'Energoprojekt-Hidroinženjering'." , point out from RV.
They said that the Directorate for Water was fully aware of those documents, because in a letter dated January 19, it requested that they be adapted to the regulations of Montenegro in the process of securing certificates on the ZSZ of springs for public water supply, which was done. In this way, the "Boljeestra" spring is, they add, the only spring that bases the determination of sanitary protection zones on "the results of fundamental two-year scientific research with the strictest observance of all procedures".
"In accordance with the usual practice, instead of accepting the mentioned Main Project or hiring one or two people for its evaluation, the Water Administration formed no less than a five-member commission for the evaluation of the Main Project. The seemingly 'good' intention, right from the formation of the commission, turned into the opposite and called into question the meaning of its formation. Namely, whether by accident or not, the commission was formed by a number of people who are intensively fighting for the continuation of illegal exploitation of gravel and sand, which brings millions of profits to its perpetrators. Therefore, the Water Administration formed a commission whose are members in a conflict of interest. Some members of the commission deny the influence of the illegal exploitation of gravel and sand from the Morača riverbed on the yield of the source of the 'Boljeestra' almost every day through the means of information," emphasized the RV.
They said that the commission, "after the given formal, unargued and blanket remarks and suggestions, made a 'judgment' that the Main Project on determining and maintaining sanitary protection zones and belts for the source of 'Boljes estra' should not be adopted".
"In order to achieve the task set for itself, the commission disputes the conducted research and requests new research, for which a longer period of time is necessary. At the same time, it is not stated who will conduct and finance the said research. They probably believe that the members of the commission should conduct research while the Regional Water Supply Funds something that is supposed to 'destroy' him", they add from RV.
They say that denying the results of expert research and refusing to pass a Decision on sanitary protection zones will have negative consequences for the further development and operation of the Regional Water Supply.
"This act represents the negation of the policy and all the results achieved so far by the Government of Montenegro, the competent authorities and institutions, the Regional Waterworks and numerous non-governmental organizations in the plan to stop the ecocide that has befallen the bed of the Morača River and the source of the 'Boljesestra' and their efforts to rehabilitate the consequences of that ecocide, as well as ensure proper water supply of the Montenegrin coast, without which there is no development of tourism in Montenegro," the RV added.
Even more worrisome, as they said, is the refusal to pass a Decision on the zones of sedimentary protection of the "Boljeestra" source, because the water license expires on December 25, 2023.
"Regional water supply is legally obliged to submit a request for its issuance at least two months before the expiration of the previous permit (October 25) and attach the Decision on sanitary protection zones to the request. Since the issuance of the Decision on sanitary protection zones has been blocked for a long time, Regional water supply will have to stop the distribution of water to the Montenegrin coast on December 26, otherwise he can be held responsible for illegal distribution of water," the RV notes.
They also said that the author-expert team of the Main Project on the determination and maintenance of sanitary protection zones and belts for the spring "Boljeestra" categorically rejected all the allegations of the commission and "expertly denied", that is, "disproved all theses advocated by the commission".
"Due to the voluminous answers given by the developer of the Main Project on the determination and maintenance of sanitary protection zones and belts for the spring 'Boljesestra', they can be viewed on the website of our Company. Bearing in mind the very good cooperation so far, our Company expects the Water Administration to respect the views of the Board of Directors and submitted to them the answers of the developers of the Main Project on the determination and maintenance of sanitary protection zones and zones for the spring "Boljeestra", and to accept the Main Project on the determination and maintenance of sanitary protection zones and zones for the spring "Boljeestra" in the given form and issue a Decision on the zones of sanitary protection protection of the source of 'Boljesestra' in the shortest possible time. We sincerely hope that the interest of Montenegro is more significant than the profits of individuals and the construction mafia," the announcement concludes.
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