Kosovo is facing crisis of potable water

Kosovo is facing crisis of potable water
 
 Due to the lack of atmospheric rainfall, in addition to the municipality of Gjilan / Gnjilane, citizens of Pristina and its surroundings may also face a crisis of potable water, say Pristina Regional Water officials.

According to competent authorities in Pristina, there is currently a drop in water levels in the Badoc and Batllava lakes, which provide drinking water to more than 140,000 people.

Regional Water Supply "Prishtina" is the largest drinking water supply enterprise in the Republic of Kosovo, from which eight Kosovo municipalities are supplied with water, including the capital - Prishtina.

Chief Executive Officer of Regional Water Utility “Prishtina” Ilir Abdullahu in a talk for Radio Free Europe, said that if the lack of rainfall continues, in the coming days the company will start to implement the reduction measures.

"If there is no precipitation, there will be water reserves for the next six or seven months. We have minus about 10 meters of drinking water in both Batllava and Badovc lakes. As you can see this week, there is no chance of precipitation, so we are getting into a future water crisis,” Abdullah said.

"Even though we have been running a water supply for 24 hours so far, we are already developing a plan to launch reductions where technical opportunities exist to manage the water levels we currently have." , said Abdullah.

Even the Water Supply Association of Kosovo, claim that the lack of atmospheric rainfall has affected the reduction of water level at the country level, but the worst situation, according to this association, appears to be in the Municipality of Gjilan.

The municipality of Gjilan has been facing a severe shortage of water supplies since the middle of last year. Reductions are already being implemented in this municipality.

Muhamed Suliqi, chairman of the board of this association, at the same time chief executive officer of the Regional Water Supply "Hidromorava" in Gjilan, in a statement for Radio Free Europe, said that for some of the citizens the reductions are being applied from 21:00 pm to 6:00 p.m.

"It is still a problem the drought, there is no rising water level. If this drought continues, the existing wells are also endangered,” said Suliqi.

Prilepnica Dam is the main source of drinking water in Gjilan, where about 60 percent of the citizens of Gjilan Municipality get the drinking water. In addition, there are also three smaller springs, the Hoxha Stone, the Bath and the wells in Velekincë.

The amount of rainfall in some areas of Kosovo, namely in the area of ​​Anamorava (consisting of the municipalities of Gjilan, Viti and Kamenica) last year was below the average rainfall recorded by the Kosovo Hydrometeorological Institute, says the head of the Institute.

Letafete Latifi, head of the Kosovo Hydrometeorological Institute, say that in 2014 at the measuring station in Prilepnica, the amount of rainfall was 856 liters per square meter, whereas last year this amount was 450 liters per square meter.

A similar situation, according to Latifi, has been at the Batllava metering station.

However, even in the coming days no precipitation is forecast, said Latifi.

"This week the weather will be similar, the minimum temperature will be from -1 to -5 degrees Celsius and the maximum will be 3 to 7 degrees Celsius. While this week is not expected to rain or snow," said Latifi.

At present, Kosovo's citizens are supplied by several natural and artificial water sources.

Ujman Lake (Gazivoda) in Zubin Potok, Batallava in Podujevo, Badoci in Pristina, Radoniqi in Gjakova and Prlepnica in Gjilan, along the rivers Drini i Bardhe in the Dukagjini Plain, the Ibri in Mitrovica, the Morava of Binca in Anamorava, are some of the main sources of drinking water in Kosovo.
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