Glass of water (Pexels)
Exactly 19 years ago, by a sanitary inspector's decision, the use of water from the Zrenjanin city waterworks for drinking and food preparation was prohibited due to excessively high levels of arsenic.
Mayor Simo Salapura has announced that this year Zrenjanin's citizens will finally have "colorless water," whereas they will have completely sanitary water in full capacity no earlier than in the first quarter of 2024.
Since 2004, the possibility of supplying the city with water from the Danube or Tisa rivers has been considered, while the city waterworks company in late 2011 took a decision to initiate public procurement procedure for the construction of a water purification plant.
Italian Zilio Group built the factory but it exploded in late 2020, and so the local waterworks company took over water supply again.
The mayor has said that the first stage of rehabilitation of the existing water factory has started and that it is expected that citizens will get "colorless water" in the first half of this year, while delivery of water that is safe to drink is expected in April 2024.
Since 2004, citizens have organized multiple protests, performances and forums, but are still forced to buy bottled water, while a number of low-income residents drink water from the waterworks with excessive quantities of arsenic.
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