Strategic Moves - Regional Environmental Center for Central and ...

FIGURE 2: Percentage of the population connected to sewerage networks
%
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Croatia Serbia Albania Montenegro Kosovo
(under
FYR
Macedonia
Source: REC survey, 2008
UNSCR 1244) (rural)
The water supply and sewerage sector in the country has shown important improvements
in the last two years from both a technical and a financial point of view.
Although improvements have been made, many deficiencies still exist, especially
in rural areas.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, some 56 percent of the population has access to
water through a public water supply system (91 percent in urban areas, and 48 percent
in rural areas). Overall water losses are estimated at 50 percent. In urban areas,
73 percent of the population is connected to sewerage networks, while in rural
areas the proportion is extremely low. Overall, 4 percent of the population is connected
to wastewater treatment plants. Untreated discharges of wastewater remain
a key environmental challenge, and both access to drinking water and wastewater
treatment infrastructure require additional investments (EC SEC[2009] 1338).
Croatia has the most developed water infrastructure in the region, and 80 percent
of its population is connected to a municipal water supply. Up to 75 percent
of the urban population is connected to sewerage networks, while 28 percent of the
overall population is connected to 89 wastewater treatment plants. Many plants
constructed in the 1980s are too big since they were designed according to the existing
development and spatial plans, for the intake of a considerable amount of industrial
wastewater, and for a higher percentage of the population connected to
C H A P T E R 2
S TAT U S O F E N V I R O N M E N TA L I N F R A S T R U C T U R E I N T H E S E E R E G I O N
FYR
Macedonia
(urban)
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
(urban)
S T R AT E G I C M O V E S 49