Strumica, 3 October 2024 (MIA) - Strumica will face an environmental disaster if the problem related to the drinking water for the city is not resolved soon, Mayor Kostadin Kostadinov told council members on Thursday at a session that focused on the week-long ban on tap water consumption due to high quantities of manganese in it.

Mayor Kostadinov said the source of the pollution is the Turija dam, which provides water with high manganese quantities that cannot be filtered to the point of being safe for consumption, while urging the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, Vodostopanstvo enterprise and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning to engage in the problem's resolution.

"I think we are not quite aware about the pending disaster for Strumica. All inspections in the filtering station have shown no problems or defects. Lab results have shown that the water coming from Turija dam has 1.5mg/l of manganese. Over the past 50 years, the highest quantity of manganese in the water was 0.25 mg/l. Even if we invest heavily in the system, we cannot filter the water to a degree of being considered safe for consumption," said Kostadinov.

Water utility enterprise director Stojan Eftimov said that despite their efforts, the water in the Turija reservoir is still not being analyzed.

"Analyses are required at larger depths and at numerous points in order to ascertain the state of the water in the reservoir," noted Eftimov.

Photo: MIA