Strengthening sustainable management of water resources in Bratunac municipality in BIH

Bosnia and Herzegovina is rich in water sources but many rural areas suffers from water scarcity and low quality of water available. This water crisis is often attributed to the lack of government planning and proper water system maintenance, the inefficient infrastructures and the presence of human waste.
Based on statistics, only 56% of population have access to the water supply network (35% in rural areas).

Bratunac is a municipality located in eastern BIH, inside the entity of Republika Srpska. It has a popolation of 21.619 inhabitants (census 2013) and the main activity of the area is agriculture (2500 activities are registered from the sector: mainly fruits, livestock and bee keeping).
The municipality suffered from the water problem that affected the whole country. Here, the main pollutions is given from domestic solid waste and waste water not properly treated. Along the river Drina’s banks and its tributaries there are many illegal dumps causing pollution of rivers and groundwater through percolation.

The project proposal will focus on raising the technical and management skills of local institutions through training activities, it will make the community aware of the environmental issue and, finally, it will restructure the water network of 2 elementary schools, thus guaranteeing the children a safe access to the drinkable water.

This project is supported by Fondi Otto per Mille della Chiesa Valdese.

Location
Bratunac, Bosnia Erzegovina

Lead Partner
Kallipolis – Associazione non profit per uno sviluppo urbano sostenibile

Partners
Oxfam Italia
Municipalità di Bratunac
Priroda

Year
2016-2017

Status
Ongoing