Available in: Hrvatski Environmental Project cleans the Croatian coastline
As Teo Mandic stands on the coastline of Kaštela Bay’s tiny island of Vranjic, inhabited by 1,100 residents, he looks around with a sense of hope and optimism. Clean and vibrating with marine life, the waters of the Adriatic coast of Croatia’s previously heavily polluted environmental “black spot” are slowly coming back after 40 years of environmental neglect. The bay, situated in the middle of the eastern Adriatic coast, is one of the most rugged and picturesque in the Mediterranean basin with its 1,185 islands and a total coastal length of over 5,000 kilometers. |  Teo Mandic, President of the local water polo club in Vranjic | |
|  Local fish market in Split |
 Stupe wastewater treatment plant in Solin |
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A statuesque bronze water nymph greets the visitors at the entrance to the island –epitomizing the spirit of change and revival of the not so long ago heavily contaminated waters. Stripped of its former nickname “Little Venice,” the town lost its significance as a tourist attraction because of years of environmental degradation due to uncontrolled urban development and one of the largest concentrations of heavy industry on this side of the Adriatic. Busy restoring its former appeal, Vranjic is now hastily making improvements to welcome visitors and tourists, rebuilding its sandy beaches, recreation areas, and water sports facilities, including the re-establishment of its famous Wild League – the water polo team.
Teo Mandic, along with the rest of the residents from the four municipalities of Split, Solin, Kaštela, and Trogir that make up the 350,000 strong population of Kastela Bay’s 15 km coastline, are now able to experience – many of them for the first time in their lives – the long forgotten joy of swimming, playing water sports, fishing, and enjoying all the benefits of clean coastal waters.
Mandic recalls the situation of five years earlier, “This entire area had become so polluted that it became a dead area of the bay. I am 50-years old. The last time I swam in these waters was when I was in first grade in elementary school. The project significantly improved and completely transformed our coastal waters.”
In the mid 1990s, in the context of the post-conflict recovery and economic and social transition, the Croatian government recognized the need to address the severe water contamination of the Adriatic coast, and initiated a program aimed at eliminating wastewater pollution and improving the water supply in Kaštela Bay – at the time, one of the most polluted basins in the country.
A heavy concentration of the chemical, petro-chemical, and shipyard industries, along with an unrestrained urban development, contributed to a significant increase in urban and industrial pollution which, in turn, affected the quality of life of the local communities and dissuaded tourism, one of the most significant sectors of the Croatian economy. At the same time, wastewater collection, and treatment and disposal infrastructure fell behind the expansion of water supply systems.
In 1998, the government of Croatia turned to the World Bank to launch a joint project, financed by the government of Croatia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the World Bank. The total cost of the project amounted to EUR 133.3 million, out of which EUR 33.2 was financed by the World Bank.
In Split, Croatia’s second largest city and primary port, and which has a Roman Diocletian palace from the 3rd Century AD, the local fish market opens early in the morning to offer a large selection of freshly caught sea produce by local fishermen. Mackerel, shellfish, clams, octopus, tuna, sardines, anchovies, and smelts are a few examples of a large variety of frutti di mare available here. As the coastal waters recover from pollution, the fishermen are now bringing their catches not only from other locations but also more and more from the waters of Kaštela Bay itself. The reemergence of calamari and octopus in the waters surrounding Vranjic is particularly noteworthy, and their reappearance shows that the quality of water in this part of the Adriatic has improved significantly. “This fish has not been here before for a long time, and now it is coming back,” says a local fish market customer.
Split is also the city where Diocletian, the aging Roman emperor who decided to build his retirement residence here 17 centuries ago, constructed an aqueduct – the first water supply system which brought water from the Jadro River to the palace. Surprisingly, the aqueduct still functions.
But in more recent history, the urban and industrial expansion of this part of Dalmatia exceeded the region’s existing water and wastewater infrastructure capacity. As Split increased its population from 50,000 inhabitants in the 1950s to 300,000 inhabitants in the 1990s, the city’s urban development was not keeping up with the construction of wastewater treatment facilities to match the population’s needs.
The Croatian project’s development objectives were three-fold: to reduce municipal wastewater pollutant discharges into the environmentally sensitive Kastela and Trogir bays in line with Croatian and European Union standards; to improve the safety, reliability, and delivery of drinking water for the population of over 300,000 inhabitants of the project area covering the municipalities of Split, Solin, Kastela, Trogir and their surrounding areas; and to improve the operational and financial performance of the Split Water and Sewage Company.
The wastewater component of the project, financed by the World Bank, envisaged the construction of two wastewater subsystems to accommodate the needs of the Split-Solin and the Kaštela-Trogir municipalities. The technical approach was simple. Wastewater, previously discharged directly to the sea, is now collected and transported through the sewage network to the treatment plant where it is treated mechanically and, subsequently, discharged through outfalls far away from the shore line into the deep sea.
As Kaštela Bay recovers its natural beauty, and clear waters make their way back to this part of the Adriatic, the inhabitants of the four municipalities, and numerous visitors and tourists from all over Europe, are now able to benefit more than ever from the region’s rich and unique resources.
“The construction of the new wastewater collection and treatment system under the Croatia Municipal Environmental Infrastructure project,” says Stjepan Gabric, Task Team Leader, “ not only contributed to the recovery of the attractiveness of the sea but also created preconditions for development of tourism and other employment and income generating activities based on tourism. In addition, the provision of an uninterrupted water supply greatly improved social conditions and favorably impacted public health.”
“The entire EKO Kaštela Bay project improved living standards of the inhabitants of the four municipalities, in both the environmental and economic sense,” comments Zlatko Caljkusic, Director of the EKO Agency, the implementing unit of the project.
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The Croatia Municipal Environmental Infrastructure project was completed in December 2007, except for the wastewater system Kastela – Trogir, whose construction is currently undergoing. All planned structures are expected to be completed and operational in the first half of 2009.
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