Floods devastating, environmental accidents avoided

BELGRADE - The floods that have hit Serbia have a devastating effect on the environment, but major environmental accidents in the form of industrial pollution have been avoided, Environmental Protection Agency Director Filip Radovic said on Wednesday.

The Agency has established an emergency team and last weekend's tests on water from all flooded areas revealed higher pesticide concentrations and faecal contamination, but the concentrations have been lowered by the huge quantities of water and are probably non-existent at this point, Radovic told the RTS.

The sanitisation of the area will be followed by monitoring, in particular in flood-hit areas, to determine the extent of contamination, while removal of dead animals and disinfection have started in all areas from which the floodwater has receded, he said.

Pesticide pollution levels increased over the weekend in the Belgrade and Sabac areas, affecting only non-drinkable surface water that is subsequently processed to become safe for drinking, Radovic explained.

Radovic also announced that a coordination body will be set up to determine the contamination levels in detail.

Photo Tanjug/S. Radovanovic (illustration)