A local environmental activist said that an anti-waste barrier, installed on the river by the municipal hydropower plant a few kilometers upstream from the dam near Vigrad, has turned the city into a regional dump.

Last week, a huge floating dump filled with plastic bottles, rusty barrels, used tires, household appliances, driftwood and other waste that entered the Drina from the watercourses formed again at the barrier.

Heavy rains and unusually warm weather over the past week have caused many rivers and streams in Bosnia, Serbia and the Black Sea to overflow their banks. In recent days we have seen many floods and flash floods, and such a huge flow of water (from the Drina rivers) in the Black Ho, which is now overflowing, says Dejan Fortola of the Eco Centar Viegrad environmental association.

He added that the huge spitting of rubbish did not stop. According to him, about 10,000 cubic meters of waste have accumulated behind the Drin checkpoint.

Waste removal takes half a year

The same amount of garbage was removed from this river in previous years. It takes an average of six months to remove waste from the lake. It then goes to the municipal landfill in Vigrad, which, according to Fortola, doesn’t even have enough capacity to handle municipal waste.

Fertola said that he would not be harmed by the fire in the landfill, adding that the landfill is not only an environmental and health hazard. He added that it is a great shame for all of us.

Flowing from the mountains in the Black Ho region of Serbia and Bosnia, the Ika Drina is known for its emerald-coloured streams and picturesque landscapes. After decades of brutal wolves in the 1990s, which led to the breakup of Yugoslavia, this part of the Balkans is lagging behind the rest of Europe both economically and in terms of environmental protection.