Resolving environmental problems in Vrbas - construction of central wastewater treatment unit to start in April 2010

Dragan Stijepović

- The biggest ecological problem of Vrbas, the resolving of which is actively pleaded for by the European Commission, is Big Bačka Canal. The most significant step in the project for its revitalization is construction of central wastewater treatment unit - CPPOV of Vrbas and Kula, which will be financed by the European Commission with 13m EUR - Dragan Stijepović, the Deputy President of the Temporary Organ of the municipality of Vrbas, told "eKapija" and pointed out that the realization of the project was expected to commence in April 2010.

- Construction of treatment unit and connection of all those who use sewerage in the municipality to that unit is necessary for prevention of further polluting of the canal. In that way, only the treated water that does not pollute the environment will be reaching the canal. The precondition for that is construction of complete sewerage network, and that project will be financed by the municipality of Vrbas in association with the Capital Investments Fund. Works on construction of main sewer for receiving wastewater and directing it to future central treatment unit are in progress. The European Commission and the Ministry of Environment Protection of Serbia are implementing the project for construction of general wastewater treatment unit. Prior to the end of November, "Jaroslav Černi" Institute will prepare the documentation for international tender for selection of contractor for the works on the treatment unit, and we expect to start realization of that investment in April 2010. That will be the largest individual project ever financed by the European Commission on the territory of Serbia. Also, the companies that operate in the municipality will have to install certain filters in order to be able to let the water into the new sewerage network - Stijepović explained.

Dragan Stijepović

CPPOV will be situated south of Vrbas, in the vicinity of "triangle" on Bogojevo-Bečej canal, which is designed to satisfy the needs of 120,000 people. The process involving active mud and anaerobic mud stabilization with elimination of nitrogen and phosphorus will be applied, so that all the requests of European Water Directive will be met in that way.

The third phase of revitalization of Big Bačka Canal is its cleaning, which requires an investment of 20-30m EUR.

Stijepović said that the municipality was currently in the phase of cooperation with UNDP, European Commission and all Serbian ministries with the aim of starting elaboration of preliminary and main projects for cleaning the canal, which should begin either in 2012 or in 2013, and the precondition was the construction of the sewerage network. According to previous estimates, total of 400,000 cubic meters of poisonous mud should be extracted from the canal.

Short history

Construction of Big Bačka Canal started in 1792, and it included the largest works in Europe at the time. Wishing to ensure the success of the project, Austria-Hungary Empire announced the public open competition for selection of concessionaire for the first time ever. The works were finished in 1801, the quantity of dug land was equal to the one after the digging of the Suez Canal, and Big Bačka Canal was opened for traffic in 1802. Although it was initially intended for river transportation, thanks to the drainage capacity, the canal quickly made it possible for Bačka and Vojvodina to become the second largest fruitful territory in Europe, with the thickest layer of mold and humus, right behind Ukraine.

Total length of the canal, from Crvenka to Srbobran, is 20 kilometers, and its most polluted section is 6 km long. Today, the water depth at certain sections of the canal is only 30 cm. In order to efficiently resolve the problem of pollution, as a consequence of many decades of industrial and public utility polluting, the Government of Serbia formed the task force in 2007 for final resolving of the problem of pollution and cleaning of Big Bačka Canal, which comprised the representatives of the Ministry of Environment Protection of Serbia, the Republic Ecological Fund, the Capital Investments Fund of Vojvodina, JVP "Vode Vojvodine" and municipalities of Vrbas and Kula. Construction of secondary sewerage network in Vrbas, as well as in five neighboring settlements, was necessary for resolving of the problem of pollution of Big Bačka Canal, one of the most polluted water currents and the most serious ecological problems in our country.

- Big Bačka Canal represents the black ecological spot of Europe, which is the title that it earned in 2002. The problems are too big for the municipality of Vrbas, so that the Ministry of Environment Protection, the Ministry of Economy, "Jaroslav Černi" Institute, the Provincial Capital Investments Fund and the Novi Sad Faculty of Technical Sciences have joined their resolving - said Stijepović.