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While the authorities in Kosovo warn of rising water prices, a large amount of water produced for drinking fails to be billed at all.
The announced price increase, however, is not related to the quantities lost, but to the increase in prices of other basic products.
The Regulatory Authority for Water Services in Kosovo (ARRU) said that during this year over 152 million cubic meters of water have been produced.
Of this amount, about 68 million cubic meters have been invoiced or sold, in the amount of 25 million euros. The amount of unbilled water is 84 million cubic meters.
According to the ARRU annual report, water is lost due to old infrastructure, damage from road infrastructure works and illegal connections.
Lost water is said to directly affect the cost recovery and profits of water distribution operators. There are seven regional water companies operating in Kosovo, which supply citizens with drinking water.
For Chaush Bajrushi, who worked for the Regional Water Company “Prishtina” and is now retired, losing water is an incomprehensible thing.
According to him, the biggest problem in the water services industry, during the last two decades, is the illegal connection of citizens to the water supply system.
“Apart from the outdated infrastructure, over 25 percent in this system are illegal connections. The fight of the institutions should be about identifying the illegally connected persons and measures should be taken against them “, says Bajrushi.
Ilir Abdullahu, professor of Hydraulics, Water Supply and Sewerage at the private College UBT in Prishtina, says that the complete elimination of water losses is difficult, but, nevertheless, local and central level institutions “should do more a lot ”in this regard.
“It is necessary to invest in depreciated networks, in new water meters. However, in commercial losses, there should be a much stricter control, so that drinking water is not misused for other needs. Since the end of the war [më 1999], drinking water is used either on agricultural lands, or in gardens, on the streets. From May to September it is seen to be misused. “Due to illegal connections, regional companies operate with this degree of water loss,” Abdullahu told Radio Free Europe.
The burden of losses should not be borne by citizens
“There is no reason to increase tariffs at the expense of citizens, to cover their financial expenses, due to water losses,” says Bajrushi.
The Water Services Regulatory Authority is the institution responsible for setting tariffs for water services. Officials of this institution say for Radio Free Europe that the price per cubic meter of water is likely to increase by 1 or 2 cents.
For household customers, the current tariffs for water services per cubic meter of water are 0.43 euros, while for commercial and institutional customers 0.69 euros.
Blerina Sinani, an employee of a private company in Pristina, says that the Government of Kosovo should not allow the increase of water tariffs.
According to her, the Regulatory Authority for Water Services is a public enterprise, therefore “Government intervention is needed”.
“I sincerely expect the Government to intervene in this situation. “Because, even if the tariffs for drinking water increase, after the increase of the prices of other items, I do not know how we will cover the monthly expenses as a family, with the salaries we receive”, says Sinani.
According to data from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, a citizen consumes about 90 liters of water per day.
In Kosovo, 78 percent of the population is supplied with drinking water through public systems managed by regional water companies. The citizens of Kosovo are supplied by several natural and artificial water sources.
Ujman Lake in Zubin Potok, Batllava in Podujeva, Badoci in Prishtina, Radoniqi in Gjakova and Përlepnica in Gjilan, along the rivers Drini i Bardhë in the Dukagjini Plain, Ibri in Mitrovica, Morava e Binçës in Anamorava and Lepenc in the south The main sources of drinking water in Kosovo. / REL
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