Where there is no water, there is no life. Water becomes the main economic and security issue of the 21st century.
Economics professors, when explaining the price of a good in their lectures, emphasize that the formation of price is not only about the abstract value of a resource but also its scarcity. Diamonds are expensive because they are rare, and water is cheap because it is abundant.
However, the UN has registered around 300 potential hotspots around the world where international armed conflicts could erupt over water.
Humanitarians argue that water is a fundamental human right, just like life itself. Without it, societies disappear, and people die.
History, as a teacher of life, best testifies to how rivers created life, villages, cities, and songs depict these lives.
“One of the most famous songs about the river that connects different nations is ‘Stop, stop, Ibar river, where are you rushing so fast…'”
The Ibar River springs from under Mount Hajla in Montenegro. From there, it flows to Kosovo, a little beyond Kosovska Mitrovica, and then through Zvečan, Leposavić, Raška, Baljevac, Ušće, and finally reaches Kraljevo, where it flows into the West Morava River.
Famous monasteries have sprung up in the valley of the Ibar. Kings stayed here, and endowments were raised. Because of one royal love, the valley of lilacs was born. Serbian King Uroš, to properly welcome his future wife – the princess of France, ordered that purple lilacs be planted along the road that stretched through the Ibar Valley. Since then, to this day, lilacs spread their magnificent scent throughout the Ibar Valley in springtime.
Ibar is a symbol of all the landscapes and cities it passes through, but also a reflection of our neglect. Due to heavy traffic and exhaust gases, the scent of lilac flowers along the Ibar is no longer as striking. Along the entire course of the Ibar River, vast amounts of garbage are scattered. All of this is visible to the average observer, but it does not paint a complete picture of the state of the Ibar.
All environmental protection organizations that have monitored the Ibar River from its source to its confluence with the West Morava agree that there is a pronounced lack of concern for the problems that make life difficult for people and seriously degrade the quality of life and health.
The Youth Forum of Positive Montenegro in Rožaje has initiated a petition to collect signatures for the removal of landfills in the villages of Besnik, Radetina, Bać, and Njeguši, in order to prevent pollution of the river and the environment. The Ibar River, flowing through the municipality of Rožaje, is constantly exposed to pollution due to the proximity of landfills.
The organization Let’s do it Kosovo, a branch of the Let’s do it world network promoting a zero-waste world, has been actively involved with the Ibar River for 20 years and claims that its upper course is in the worst condition. The large landfill at Lake Gazivode, formed by a dam on the Ibar River, is a significant contributor to pollution. Additionally, the Sitnica River in Kosovo, which flows into the Ibar, lacks aquatic life. The organization reports that recently, the Pestova company, which produces chips, was fined €500 after a resident of Vučitrn reported seeing a truck dumping potato waste into the Sitnica River. According to a report by the Kosovo Democratic Institute, Kosovo is facing a systemic problem regarding its water management. Untreated sewage and industrial wastewater are freely discharged into rivers in Kosovo, which is illegal.
Downstream, after Kosovska Mitrovica, major polluters include the Trepča plant in Leposavić, which collapsed into the river in early 2021. Locals claim that wastewater full of lead, zinc, and other heavy metals has long been washing off the Trepča tailings into the Ibar River with snow and rain. Another major polluter of the Ibar is the landfill in Leposavić, where the Public Utility Company daily unloads tons of waste next to the banks of the Ibar River. When the water level of the Ibar rises, this landfill is submerged, and the Ibar carries waste downstream, contaminating agricultural land. Adding to this landfill are two more urban landfills located near the rivers in Raška and Novi Pazar, household sewage, the main urban collector flowing into the Raška River, and about forty tanneries discharging toxins into the river. It is easy to conclude how great the lack of care, consideration, and action for the preservation of life is.
However, near Biljanovac, the Ibar River is joined by the Jošanica River, which springs from the slopes of Mount Željin and Kopaonik. As a mountain river rich in trout, Jošanica improves the quality of the polluted Ibar. At the confluence near the village of Ušće, the Ibar also refreshes and enhances the quality of the Studenica River. Studenica River originates from Mount Golija, and the presence of trout and the rare fish, lipljan, testify to the cleanliness of this fast mountain river. Thanks to these mountain rivers, the Ibar reaches Kraljevo as a second-category river.
Miroslav Pavlović, president of the ecological movement Eko Ibar and an ecology teacher, has been fighting for a cleaner Ibar through various field actions for 30 years. Pavlović says: “We need to be consistent, and in life, we need to behave, so to speak, in a regulatory manner—not building houses near rivers, not blocking channels, not dumping garbage near the river… We send our wastewater to Trstenik, Vrnjačka Banja, Kruševac, and the same is done to us by Raška, Novi Pazar, as well as the landfills from Tutin, Ribarić…”
But it’s not just industry and poor infrastructure solutions that pollute water. We all contribute to its pollution!
According to data from the American Environmental Protection Association, over sixty percent of pollution comes from excess water originating from precipitation in urban and agricultural areas. This polluted water, which the soil does not absorb, carries with it vehicle fuels and lubricants, animal feces, garbage, soil sediments, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and more. Often, excess precipitation water in suburban areas contains more pesticides than water from agricultural areas. As we discussed earlier, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat, the way we dispose of garbage affects the quality of water in our rivers, lakes, shores, and underground reservoirs.
If one morning you found a flyer in your mailbox with a message: “Don’t throw away waste, it ends up in the Ibar,” or a flyer suggesting where to recycle used car oil, where to dispose of hazardous household waste (like paint remnants, chemicals…), or a reminder to pick up pet waste, a reminder to use natural fertilizers for your garden or lawn, I’m sure it would be, who knows how many attempts, but also a small step towards awakening the dormant awareness that our life, or the Ibar River, is endangered and that we are polluting it all of us, with our everyday way of life.
If the basic human right is the right to life, and there is no life without water, it is completely understandable why water has received the treatment of basic human rights. Are we aware that we are depriving ourselves and our children of life?