After the environmental incident committed by the "Šuplja stijena" lead and zinc mine, an analysis by the Center for Ecotoxicological Testing (CETI) showed degradation of the surface water quality of the Ćehotina River in the area of the Badanj spring confluence, due to the high presence of heavy metals in the water (lead, zinc), dissolved salts and suspended particles.
CETI's findings also showed that "chemical pollution poses a serious risk to the ecological status of the river, especially in the context of potential negative impacts on aquatic organisms (fish, benthic organisms), and that the contamination is evidently not limited to the Badanj spring mouth site, but has a diffuse character and continues to spread downstream, which is confirmed by sample analyses from the Tatarovine site."
The "Lipljen" sports and fishing club from Pljevlja, however, believes that this analysis was not done properly, but that it is much more important to determine the sediment analysis than the surface flow analysis.
Therefore, they pointed out certain shortcomings in the reaction of the competent institutions to the Ministry of Ecology, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture - Directorate for Fisheries, as well as the departmental inspections for water, ecology and fisheries.
"CETI only processed the monitoring of surface waters from the Badanj spring, as well as from the Ćehotina river above and below the Badanj spring (from which wastewater from the lead and zinc mine tailings leaked). It is an omission that the inspection did not order the sampling of water and slag from the tailings pond itself (the source of pollution), in order to connect the situation between the cause and the effect. None of the competent inspections ordered the monitoring of sediment, because it is much more important for living organisms. Water is a fluid that flows, and sediment is retained for a longer period of time," stated the SRK "Lipljen".
They claim that the inspection did not order any monitoring or analysis of benthic organisms and ichthyofauna above and below the Badanj spring, and due to the presence of heavy metals in the water and sediment (the concentration of lead is 30 times higher at the Badanj confluence in Ćehotin than in Ćehotin above the confluence).
"The aforementioned suggestions are extremely well-intentioned, because we do not want to allow a repeat of the situation with the great fish kill from the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant, when the Prosecutor's Office withdrew the lawsuit due to insufficient evidence. Therefore, we ask that everyone within their jurisdiction be on task to connect this accident with the responsible legal entity, and to compensate those responsible for the damage caused to the environment. We ask that you order the missed analyses to be carried out as soon as possible, in order to protect the environment and preserve the public good. All of the above is necessary for a more complete implementation of the environmental damage assessment procedure, which will ultimately be carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency. We also note that we officially sent the aforementioned suggestions to all of the aforementioned institutions on July 7, and to this day we have not received any official response from the authorities, except from the water inspection that they have forwarded the entire case to the ODT for action."
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