The illegal connection installed on the Gostivar water supply system was not located in the sanitary protection zones, but about 800 to 900 meters from the last point covered by the permit held by the Gostivar PE Communal Hygiene. For this connection, which is the subject of the investigation into water pollution in Gostivar, no request has been submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP).
“This illegal connection is not within the framework of the permit at all, it is outside its scope, it is not even in the sanitary, protected zones or in the source, but is far away, about 800-900 meters from the main pipeline that supplies the Municipality of Gostivar and the surrounding villages with drinking water. The water abstraction in question, about which the public has been informed, is not an integral part of the permit, and the water that is abstracted is from a water body that currently gravitates into a permanent open channel. For any amendment to the permit from the Ministry of Environment and Public Works that a municipal enterprise, including the Gostivar PE Communal Hygiene, plans to make, an application must first be submitted to the Environmental Administration – Water Sector, which then reviews it and gives or does not give approval for the amendment. In this specific case, it is a pipeline that serves drinking water, for exceptionally sanitary conditions. Point 11 of the permit states that, for any amendment that the operator wishes to make, he is obliged to seek approval from the Ministry of Environment and Public Works, because the Minister issues the permit that is responsible for the water supply in the city. Such a request has not been received by the Ministry of Environment and Public Protection to date, said the State Environmental Inspectorate director Ivana Ginovska at a press conference on Tuesday.
She informed that on July 16, at the request of the Gostivar Public Prosecutor’s Office, an order for an extraordinary inspection was immediately issued, coordinated with the criminal police, the FVA, the Public Health Center and Gostivar PE Communal Hygiene. From 7 pm to 11 pm, an inspection was conducted and a report was compiled and submitted to the Gostivar Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“The State Environmental Inspectorate remains fully at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and will continue to act in accordance with the legal authorizations and the competent authorities,” the director pointed out.
