ZAGREB, April 1, 2018 – Water supply at supply points in Slavonski Brod and the surrounding municipalities has been stabilised, the city and county civil protection centres said after a meeting on Sunday.
Mayor Mirko Duspara said citizens were being supplied with drinking water from 13 tank trucks and that on Saturday the Red Cross provided 6,000 litres of water to the sick or elderly who could not get to the supply points. He added that other towns and countries continued to offer help.
Asked by the press about the clean-up of an oil product leak location, which is assumed to be the cause of the pollution of the Slavonski Brod water supply plant, Duspara said the clean-up was not within his remit as the leak did not occur on town territory. He said it was necessary to establish where exactly the leak occurred and clean up the pollution location better.
Asked about the charges he pressed over the pollution, Duspara said he believed “there are elements for criminal prosecution. Regardless of who did this, the fact is that our water plant is out of commission. The fact is that 90,000 people are without drinking water and the question is if we can put the plant back into operation.”
Reporters reminded him that he had accused the Crodux energy company of the pollution. “I accused them as they are the only company that did some works there. Perhaps it was another company, it’s up to the police to find out,” he said, adding that Croatian Institute of Public Health findings of February 19 and 20 showed that the water was safe for drinking.
“It is necessary to establish who is responsible and for what. Notably so as huge damage has been caused,” the mayor said.
Asked if the drinking water supply problem would be solved by connecting Slavonski Brod to the Sikirevci water supply plant, Duspara said “the problem will be solved in part. Sikirevci can provide 100-120 litres per second and we need 300… Another pipeline from Sikirevci will have to be built to cover the area of Slavonski Brod and six municipalities. The problem isn’t simple and costs a lot.”
Stjepan Bošnjaković, president of the Brod-Posavina County civil protection centre, said an additional 22 tanks and five army and one Interior Ministry tank trucks had arrived today. “I believe the system is working and can respond to the situation Slavonski Brod and six municipalities have found themselves in.”
The problems began on Wednesday when a pipeline burst during testing and oil products started leaking out. Two days later, a water analysis at the Slavonski Brod supply plant established that it was polluted.
The Crodux company, which was working on the pipeline, said 150-200 litres of oil products had leaked out and that this amount could not have polluted the water in the supply plant. The works were part of measures taken to supply gas to an oil refinery in Bosanski Brod across the Sava river in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to reduce the air pollution the refinery is causing in Slavonski Brod.
