Issues and recommendations for drinking water supply in an average Bosnian town: the case study of Zavidovići

The environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, already compromised before the war by the development of heavy industry, has worsened since the conflict. According to WHO data, in Bosnia and Herzegovina almost 97% of the population have access to water, but its quality is often unsuitable for human consumption because of low protection of water sources, inappropriate water treatment and obsolete condition of the distribution systems. The results of the present study show that such an issue occurs also in the Municipality of Zavidovići (Central Bosnia, 46 000 inhabitants approximately). Water leakages along the municipal network lead to the loss of about 70% of volume drawn from water sources. Distributed water that is microbiologically safe very often contains excessive turbidity and a high permanganate index, due to an incomplete and, therefore, inappropriate water treatment. Moreover, in the large territory of the municipality there are numerous small waterworks whose characteristics are very often unknown. The current situation should therefore be improved not only through structural interventions, such as repairing the pipe network or the construction of specific treatments for removal of turbidity and organic matter from the raw water, but also by means of surveys aimed at identifying the characteristics of rural waterworks and the quality of distributed water.