Ombudsman and NGOs demand answers after Gostivar water contamination, government and prosecutors silent

The Ombudsman and civil society groups have stepped up their demands for answers after widespread contamination of tap water in Gostivar. The Ombudsman's office opened a case on its own initiative to establish the full circumstances and any violations of residents' rights, and requested documents from the Municipality and the municipal utility Komunalec Gostivar, from the Institute for Public Health and from the Public Health Center in Tetovo; initial information only arrived yesterday.

"However, they are not complete, because they do not contain all relevant data and circumstances regarding the problem of water contamination. For that reason today the Ombudsman will also address other competent institutions, in order to obtain concrete information," the Ombudsman's office said.

State silence, probe in progress

Broadcaster Telma sought comment from the Government about whether, beyond supplying drinking water purchased from a company linked to the mayor of Kavadarci, it will provide other forms of assistance to Gostivar residents, but received no reply by the news deadline. The Prosecutor's Office has also not commented on the progress of the probe into the contamination and the unfinished water system, saying it does not disclose details in the interest of the investigation. The discolored water in Gostivar was listed among Transparency International's most opaque incidents this month.

"The very scale of this event, how many people were poisoned, how long people complained about the water there, and nothing was implemented, not even basic inspection checks that should be carried out in such situations," said Blagoja Pandovski of Transparency International.

T​elma reported yesterday that vomiting and diarrhoea cases in Gostivar are declining, but skin and other infections have appeared because some residents used technical (non-potable) water for bathing. The number of people who fell ill reached more than 4,000 from the water that Komunalec's management contaminated by installing pumps to increase pressure. The Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into the director and two managers who are in custody, and into the unfinished water-supply project financed by a Swiss agency. Meanwhile, the state has been helping residents only with drinking water and by chlorinating the system to cleanse it; so far there is no other decision on additional assistance for Gostivar citizens.

Biljana Nikolovska

Photo: press material from the event