Johann Hesse (Head of Operational Section for Economic Reform and Natural Resources of the Delegation of the European Commission to BiH) expressed his satisfaction that the reform of water sector resulted in a new legal framework, precisely in the new Law on Water, as well as in significant progress in capacity building in BiH. “One of the preconditions for European integration process is organised environment control, water management and water in urban areas that need significant assets”, Mr. Hesse pointed out. “The entity laws on water monitoring would lead to necessary measures to increase the quality of water, which is the ultimate goal here. Water quality requires investment. If you wish to increase quality then an investment needs to be made in sanitary infrastructure, which would start overall process of investing", Mr. Hesse concluded.

Mihajlo Stevanović (Deputy Minister of the Ministry for Water Management of the Republika Srpska) pointed out that the goal of the EU member states was to reach good status of water until 2015. Adding that it would be good if BiH reached that goal until 2032, he stressed that the main problem for BiH was the fact that only 20 percent of population is connected to the sewer system, and that there was only one machine for treatment of waste water.

Hazima Hadžović (Deputy Minister of the Ministry for Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry of the Federation of BiH) put emphasis on the fact that the implementation of the new Law on water was initiated in FBIH on 1/1/08, and that the Water Agency has been operating successfully since that date. She appealed to local communities to “submit proposals for preparation of new projects related to treatment of waste water”.

The European Union provided around 0.4 million EUR for continuing support of the water quality management in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project was implemented for a year (September 2007 – September 2008), following the successfully completed first phase, which was a two-year assistance in the value of 1 million EUR.

The EU assistance also focuses also on a improving the capacity for identification and preparation of wastewater project proposals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The outputs are aimed to assist the Entity governments in their preparation of strategic documents for the water sector according to the Entities' Water Laws, as well as to facilitate planning of urban wastewater investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina by provision of the related tools.

The "Support to Water Quality Management in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Phase II" project was implemented by Grontmij and Carl Bro A/S in consortium with the Regional Environmental Centre BiH and NERI.

Source: Website of the Delegation of the Euopean Commission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Nov. 4, 2008)