The Trepca tailings, located in Botaniste, a few hundred meters from the center of Leposavic, has caused trouble for the residents for years, especially the locals of the villages of Gornji Krnjin, Kutnje, Kajkovo, and Tvrdjan. Due to strong winds, dust, contaminated with heavy metals, endangers people’s lives every day, while also hurting the farmers in the area.
The locals of Gornji Krnjin village are the most affected by the problem of inadequate disposal of tailings from the ore flotation in Leposavic. Zlatko Sekulic, a resident of this village, told KoSSev that the living conditions become unbearable during strong winds.
„The tailings threaten the entire territory of Leposavic and the surrounding villages, and the two most endangered areas are the villages of Gornji Krnjin and Kutnje. Tvrdjan, Kajkovo are also endangered here, as it is located about 500 to 700 meters away from Leposavic. It is alarming when the south and north winds blow at the same time – when the north wind blows, it threatens a village of Kutnje, and when the south wind blows, it threatens us directly in Gornji Krnjin. There are also children there, specifically in Gornji Krnjin there are about 100 households and we are all endangered, we simply cannot live there, our lives are endangered,” Sekulic pointed out.
Professor at the Faculty of Medicine in North Mitrovica, Aleksandar Corac confirmed that the wastewater from the Leposavic tailings is discharged into the Ibar River. Corac warned that this is a large-scale ecological catastrophe and that all residents of the municipalities in the river basin are endangered.
„These toxins pollute the land around the landfill or they pollute the river. This river pollution takes place in the following way: when it rains, the waste is drained into the river, but in the case of Leposavic, it happens in a specific way. Unfortunately in our society, we have a sort of carelessness – for some reason the pumps cannot pump those tailings far enough, and then someone unscrews the valve at the Tvrdjan River, releasing the pollution into the Tvrdjan River,“ Corac said.
The inhabitants of the village of Gornji Krnjin have repeatedly contacted the local government, the leaders of Trepca, as well as other entities dealing with the protection of the environment – to no avail. A memorandum to resolve the tailings issue was signed with the Leposavic municipality. According to the resident, however, this memorandum only remains a dead letter on paper.
Meanwhile, the tailings are still being deposited in the same place, the tailings pit is growing and the zone dust keeps spreading.
The residents of Gornji Krnjin, who are fed up with the situation, point out that they will organize protests and fight for the health of their children and to restore basic living conditions.
One of the solutions previously promised by Trepca leaders was a system of irrigation, which would, at least in part, mitigate the dispersal of dust from tailings. Even though the locals agreed to this solution, this system was never implemented. The tailings still rise above Leposavic and grow with each passing day and with it the problems for thousands of inhabitants.
The reportage was created by Ivan Vuckovic
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
