The local administration of Kolašin continues the procedures that should finally lead to the start of the construction of a wastewater treatment plant (WTP), a new sewage network and connections. Currently, the public is evaluating the need to prepare an environmental impact assessment report for the connection and the network, while a similar document for WWTP has already been prepared.
The newly designed sewage system belongs to the basin of the existing city sewage system, which gravitates to the already existing lagoons for wastewater treatment. The new network, it is projected, will be about 8,8 kilometers long. To overcome height differences, two sewage pumping stations made of reinforced concrete are planned.
The total length of the existing sewage network in Kolašin is about three and a half kilometers. Currently, 850 users are connected to the network, which is about 8,5 percent of the total population of Kolašin. On the part of the fecal sewage, there are sections with atmospheric sewage connections. It is estimated that around 1.300 septic tanks are in use at the same time. The construction of the fecal sewage network in that municipality began in 1995, and the existing network was mostly completed by 2000.
"Currently, most of the waste water, without prior treatment, is discharged into the streams and rivers Tara and Plasnica. Wastewater from the city's sewage system is discharged directly into the lagoons located in the north of the city in the area of Breza. The lagoons are not functioning properly, as they are not lined and the soil is sufficiently permeable, so that the waste water discharged into Lagoon 1 sinks into the ground. The exit from lagoon 1 to lagoon 2 is at such a level that waste water never reaches lagoon 2. The lagoon that is currently in operation has a layer of silt at the bottom 30 to 60 centimeters thick," says the documentation submitted with the request to decide on the need preparation of the report.
Sludge from the lagoons, as explained, undergoes a fermentation process, creating pleasant odors and thus seriously impairing the quality of the environment. In addition, it was concluded, there is a possibility of contamination of Tara, which, as the final recipient of waste water, is only about 25 meters away from the lagoons.
The planning documentation previously defined the construction of a new WWTP treatment plant near Bakovići, not far from the industrial zone, and the construction of a pumping station for pumping waste water towards the future plant.
Within the innovative version of the WWTP Feasibility Study from 2020, three options were analyzed, and in the end, the "conventional activated sludge process with aerobic sludge stabilization" was chosen as the most optimal.
"The main goal of the construction of the WWTP is to reduce the pollution of Kolašin and the Tara River, which is caused by the lack of a complete waste water collection system, and especially the lack of waste water treatment. "Certainly the biggest problem is the discharge of untreated wastewater into the Tara River, which, in addition to significant pollution of the river (especially when the water level is low), also poses a threat to water sources downstream of the city," the documentation says.
Until 2012, 1,2 million euros were allocated for the construction of the WWTP in the municipality of Kolašin. Almost one million euros was a loan from the European Investment Bank, while 200.000 euros were provided for the development of the project from EU pre-accession funds. Due to the lack of money for construction, the people of Kolasin have been waiting for the WWTP since then.
Ten years ago, a Feasibility Study of WWTP construction was prepared. The conceptual project was prepared in 10, and three years later the WWTP Feasibility Study was updated.
As recently announced by the Government, Kolašin will receive a loan of four million euros, and these are funds from the financial contract for the "Water Supply and Wastewater in Montenegro" project. That money was earmarked for the first phase, while the value of the total project was estimated at around 12 million euros, of which the WBIF investment grant is 8,3 million, and the EIB loan is XNUMX million.
After the completion of all phases of implementation, Kolašin should receive 23 kilometers of sewage network and WWTP with a capacity for 6.000 inhabitants.
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