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Two workers were injured in the explosion that broke out this morning around 5 a.m. at the Zrenjanin water factory. Mayor Simo Salapura said that the most important thing is that they are out of danger, as well as that an official announcement about the incident is expected. What caused the explosion is still unknown, and the city, where drinking water has been banned for 16 years, is again being supplied directly from the source, with untreated water rich in harmful arsenic.
A few days before the expiration of the last deadline set by the City Council for the Zrenjanin water factory to complete the construction of the reservoir, reduce losses and increase the amount of treated water, a new accident. This time, the consequence is not only an interruption in the water supply, but it also jeopardizes safety. Two workers, aged 42 and 50, were injured during the water chlorination procedure, the Labor Ministry announced. One of them was seriously injured, but his life was not in danger. Both were hospitalized with burns.
Around noon, firefighters and inspectors left the circle of the Water Factory, but there were no statements from the Factory management. In a short statement, they informed the public that there was an explosion and injuries to workers and, without giving details about the causes, they noted that this caused an immediate interruption of the water supply.
“It is important to bear in mind that in the period until the official information of the plant arrives on the degree of damage and the possibility of operating again, the water supply will be made directly from the source and that the water supply will be provided for ‘Vodovod i kanalizacija’ “, said Siniša Gajin of JKP” Vodovod i sewerage “Zrenjanin.
Thus, the untreated water rich in harmful arsenic flows from the taps to the people of Zrenjanin again.
A video from Stajićevo, a settlement near Zrenjanin, which appeared on social media in late September, showed that on the south side of the city, in addition to arsenic, methane also comes through taps. Although there is no official information yet on the causes of the explosion, the Water Factory says unofficially that they suspect that the cause could be methane.
“If these are the reasons, if the new wells are problematic, we do not know yet. We hope that the investigation will really show whose responsibility it is,” said Dušan Kokot from the NGO “Građanski preokret”.
And in the Civil Reversal, they recall that last year they requested a determination of criminal responsibility from the authorities for breach of the 2015 contract, which was supposed to provide the residents of Zrenjanin with adequate drinking water within eight months. They recall that the private investor has so far received about 100 million dinars in the name of grants and loans from the budget, adding that the explosion is dramatic proof that the work entrusted to him is not capable of solving it.
“Until now, the damages were financial in nature, and we have obviously now exceeded that level, so now our lives are also in danger,” Kokot added.
The urgent determination of responsibility for the explosion is also a request from the opposition in Zrenjanin, which points out that the local government cannot solve the drinking water problem and calls for the prime minister to be included again in that story.
“We hope and hope that by July 10, the citizens of Zrenjanin will receive water that is safe to drink and use,” Prime Minister Brnabić said on June 26, 2019.
After the only meeting he attended at the Zrenjanin factory, more deadlines were broken and extended, the 2015 contract signers brought in, but none of the processes were completed. Including what the people of Zrenjanin have been waiting for for 16 years: lifting the ban on the use of water.
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