Zubovce (Gostivar): Two days without water as residents demand lasting solution
Villagers say taps are dry for a second day (September 30, 2026) and call on authorities to deliver the long-promised water-treatment and sewage improvements.
As of September 30, 2026, residents of the village of Zubovce in the Gostivar area are entering a second consecutive day without running water after household taps ran dry. Locals say interruptions in supply are frequent and that the shortage has been a recurring problem for years.
Local effects and immediate coping
The lack of water is disrupting everyday life: beyond drinking and cooking, villagers cannot maintain personal hygiene, wash clothes or carry out other basic household tasks. Many families bring drinking water in jerrycans or buy bottled water; the current outage has made even routine chores difficult.
Longstanding promises to fix the situation — including construction of a water treatment plant to provide potable water and installation of a sewage network — remain unfulfilled, residents say. Neighbourhoods have repeatedly expected concrete steps from responsible institutions but say those measures have not materialized.
Mira Stojanoska Gjurchinoska, a resident of Zubovce, urged her neighbours to react publicly to the situation: "Are we indifferent to what is happening in our village with this water? Are they teaching us to live without water? The whole day, the whole night and now for the second day there is no water, and this happens continuously. Where are we, Zubovce people, do we even exist? Doesn’t anyone care about what is happening? For years we have been filling jerrycans for drinking and cooking or buying water when we must, and now there is no water even for personal hygiene, for washing. In the 21st century, people, where is the treatment plant that was to be built so we could have potable water, where is the sewage? Everyone looks after themselves only, and then we wonder why young people are leaving. Let’s all think where we were and where we are now. No one would want to live without basic living conditions, especially without water, and will be forced to leave, sadly."
Residents expect municipal and regional authorities to restore supply immediately and to set a timetable for permanent repairs. At the time of reporting there was still no official timetable for when water service would be normalized.
Photo: press material from the event
