Campaign Gets Underway to Clean up Lake Perućac

Let's clean up Serbia campaign continued yesterday by cleaning up Lake Perućac. Mr Oliver Dulic, the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, during his visit to Lake Perućac and the Tara National Park said that the state had to support Lake Perucac cleanup as well as the cleanup of the overall area belonging to the Tara National Park because they were among the most beautiful and the most attractive landscapes in Serbia.

"The necessity for the "Let's Clean up Serbia" campaign is best justified by this example. If we strive towards natural resource based development, it is imperative that we preserve our natural resources. " Mr Dulic said. The minister also added that no one would ever visit this beautiful lake if the tones of waste floated on its surface.

The local government representatives pointed out that each year almost all waste carried by the Drina River and its tributaries flew into the lake. During the spring the Drina drifts approximately 5, 000 cubic meters of various wastes which deposit on Perućac dam wall. Minister Dulic announced the implementation of the final solution for the protection of the Drina in co-operation with the authorities from the neighbouring states Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Environment ministers are expected to attend the Drina Conference that will be held by the end of March.

The surface waste weighing thousands of tons which has been accumulating on the Perućac dam walls for years, best illustrates the necessity and the significance of the campaign "Let's Clean up Serbia". Human negligence and sloppiness are responsible for turning the natural wealth into the Upper Drina Valley landfill, and only by a completely different approach at the state level to solving these issues can the long term results be achieved.

The artificial lake Perućac stretches 52 km in length from the Perućac dam to the famous bridge on the Drina. However in the counter direction, i.e. from the bridge to the dam, during the spring seasonthe River Drina deposits 5,000 cubic meters of various wastes that are held and accumulated here. Only the municipality of Bajina Basta cleans up such waste. Thus, the only way to permanently solve the aforementioned problem is to create the network between the municipalities and the countries from whose territories the waste ends up in the river.

The CEO of NP Tara, Mr Boban Tomic said that they expected to receive a portion of 4.5 million dinars from the funds that had been allocated to "Let's Clean up Serbia" campaign in order to use these funds to clean up Lake Perućac and the Tara mountain range - where 40 more containers would be placed. The compactor for plastic waste and the wood chipper are planned to be set up near Bajina Basta hydroelectric power plant dam. In this way the removal of waste will be solved in more efficient and more economic manner.