NIŠ to get wastewater treatment system

The city of Niš will be one of the first cites in Serbia which will implement the wastewater treatment project. The current situation in this field is worrying  – only 5-10 percent of wastewater in Serbia is being processed. In order to meet EU environmental standards, Serbia should construct 320 treatment facilities until 2041.

This project officially started on March 15,  when the City of Niš and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The beginning of construction works is planned for 2019.

Preparation of technical documentation is funded by the Government of Sweden through the Swedish Agency for International Development and Cooperation SIDA, within of the program “Support infrastructure development in the field of environmental protection” (PEID).

Mayor of Niš pointed out that the system for water collection and processing should provide wastewater treatment and removal of more than 20,000 tons of sludge from the river Nišava. So far, the feasibility study has been finished and adopted by the City Council of Niš. This was a precondition for the preparation and and finalization of technical documentation for the tender. The next step will be preparation of technical documentation through PEID program.

The documentation includes the following segments – wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) Niš, additional sludge treatment, main collectors to WWTP Niš, reconstruction of the collector in Niš, extension of the collector network and facility for the treatment of drinking water Mediana – water treatment from washing the filters.

“Niš project has six important infrastructure components, whose value is estimated over EUR 50 million,” said Stana Božović, State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection.

Serbia processes only 5-10% of its wastewater. In order to align with EU environmental standards, 320 wastewater treatment facilities should be constructed.  More than 50% of industrial facilities in Serbia do not treat wastewater, because there are no treatment  systems in place. Belgrade itself, a city with over two million inhabitants, does not treat wastewater since there is no wastewater treatment plant. Wastewater thus ends up in the Danube river. Nowadays, Serbia is  one of least developed countries in Europea in terms of the state of utility services, while numerous floods that had previously hit Serbia additionally influenced this sector.