Economy Has Three More Years to Solve Waste Waters Issue – AWS Standard Good Framework for Preserving Water Resources

According to the EU regulations, all companies in Serbia which let out waste waters will have to solve this issue in the next three years. On the other hand, the percentage of filtered waters which are brought back to the spring sites has not been exceeding 8% for several years now, and investments in facilities require big investments, especially for small companies, said the director of sustainable development at the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED), Slobodan Krstovic, at a meeting of the members of the Association for Environmental Protection of the NALED.

In Serbia, a total of 47 towns and municipalities have waste water treatment facilities, nearly a half of which are not operational. The total investments in water protection in Serbia are estimated at EUR 5.4 billion, which is why potential solutions which could be reached through the mutual cooperation of the private, public and civil sectors were considered at the meeting, the NALED announced.

On this occasion, the public affairs and regulatory manager at Coca-Cola HBC Serbia, Tisa Causevic, presented to the attendees the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) as a successful model of cooperation in the world.

The members of the alliance come from all sectors, in order to jointly contribute to the sustainability of local water resources through the adoption and promotion of a universal framework for a sustainable water use – AWS International Water Stewardship Standard (AWS Standard). It is precisely Coca-Cola HBC Serbia that is the first company in Serbia to carry the AWS certificate, the press release says.

– The latest geopolitical events show that we operate in fragile ecosystems, due to which the preservation of natural resources is very important. When it comes to water as a crucial resource, our company has reduced the consumption of water by more than 50% compared to 2007. And we are working toward further increasing this percentage. The AWS standard obliges companies to go through five steps – collect information for understanding water resources, development of plans for waste water management and implementation, assessment of the fulfillment of plans, communication and public announcement. Both our filling plants, in Belgrade and Vlasina, went through this process, which is why we have been recognized as the first carriers of the AWS certificate in Serbia – Causevic said.

According to her, all organizations, regardless of the size, the sector they operate in and the place they are located in, can implement this framework, all to the end of a responsible management, preservation of water quality and protection of biodiversity and the living organisms within the basin they belong to.

The meeting was also attended by representative of the PUE Belgrade Waterworks and Sewer, and the coordinator for the analysis and upgrade of the operations of the sewer system, Marko Lazic, said that the implementation of several projects for the solving of the issue of waste waters in the capital city was in progress, as was the construction of a system for the filtering of sludge. Still, the total length of the sewer network in Belgrade is 2,300 km, which is why the work on these projects requires a lot of time.

In order to strengthen the cooperation of all the interested parties, the founding of a thematic work group was proposed as well, which would include the economy, institutions, civil organizations and the academic community.

NALED Beograd

JKP Beogradski vodovod i kanalizacija Beograd

Coca-Cola Hellenic bottling company-Srbija d.o.o. Beograd

National Alliance for Local Economic Development

NALED

Belgrade Waterworks and Sewer

Coca Cola HBC

Alliance for Water Stewardship

AWS standard

Slobodan Krtović

Tisa Čaušević

Marko Lazić

waste waters

treatment

filtering

facilities