Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

Belgrade is the only location in Serbia where
there is a significant percentage of people who buy
bottled water as an alternative for drinking water
from the centrally supplied system. The trend of
purchasing bottled water is particularly strong
among younger, more educated people, and among
parents with young children. These social groups
tend to be more cautious and sceptical about the
proclamations of city officials on the quality of the
publicly supplied water and consequently have less
trust in its quality. Discussions with some local
experts and households suggest that the sales of
bottled water and soft drinks have increased in
recent years. There are several reasons for this: (i)
consumers in the capital enjoy higher levels of
disposable income; (ii) increased availability of
these products in stores; and (iii) the emergence of
new products at lower prices from local
manufacturers. Figure 1 confirms that households
buying bottled water have higher than average
incomes.
Graph 11.1. Average monthly household income
(dinar) by main source of drinking water
Tanker truck
Bottled water
Public well
Protected
well or spring
Urban piped
system
Rural piped
system
Private dug
well
Unprotected
well
26300
44700
44200
41500
39700
39300
56700
51900
11.3. Water access in smaller towns
In general, WSS in urban areas outside the
capital are inferior. The qualitative research
indicates that while Krusevac can be seen as a
model for a small city where residents have reliable
water supply and peri-urban and rural areas nearby
are continually being added to the system, Kraljevo
Water and Sanitation Services
and Zrenjanin experience significant problems,
particularly in terms of intermittency and quality of
the water. Water is regularly tested and is in
general in accordance with national standards. At
the same time, the quality of water in Zrenjanin and
nearby areas that are connected to its system is
considered to be of poorer quality and the water
company has informed the residents about this
situation. Arsenic and some other organic materials
were found in recent years in Zrenjanin’s central
water supply system, leading to people increasingly
doubting the quality of the water they receive.
The WSS data shows that some wealthier
households use bottled water for drinking in
addition to the central piped water, especially in the
areas that experience the problems with water
supply. However, this coping strategy is less
commonly used than in the capital because family
incomes are lower.
11.4. Water access in rural areas
Problems with the water supply in rural areas
vary significantly based on the terrain, location of
the villages and available alternatives for solving
water supply problems. Villages that are closer to
urban areas gradually connect to their central water
supply systems, if they can organize themselves and
can afford to pay for the connection. A good
example of such a development is a Citluk which
connected to the central supply of Krusevac and
today has reliable water supply. Other villages built
their own systems, usually from nearby mountains
or rivers some of these are highly organized and
effective, while others cannot provide adequate
water.
The data shows that villages without access to
the central water supply rely on wells as the primary
source of water. These wells were mostly drilled
during the Communist era. The costs of drilling
today are prohibitive for most of the households
(25$ per 1m, and the pump costs between $75 and
$250). In general, households drink the water from
the wells based on their perception of the quality.
Only 95 households, or less than 4 percent of
the population, walked beyond their home to fetch
potable water and these walked an average walk
time of 22 minutes. Among these, most household
members shared the burden of water collection (38
percent).
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