Smiljevici landfill: Millions invested, polluted water received

On the edge of the Sarajevo settlement of Smiljevici lives the Kasapovic family. Next to their home, the Lepenicki stream flows in an unmaintained channel, bringing water from the Sarajevo landfill to them and a dozen neighboring houses.

Their thirteen-year-old daughter has had a severe bone marrow disease for three years. Because of this, she should have special living conditions and should not live near the landfill.

The water treatment plant at the landfill is not operational, having only been functional for three months in 2011, so the stream brings toxic water to the residents. Only a small portion of waste is recycled, and the gas collection wells, which collected gases at the landfill, were destroyed five years ago.

Journalists from the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) discovered that over 32 million marks have been invested in the landfill's development over two decades, yet the control of potentially toxic substances remains minimal. Some equipment is destroyed or deteriorating due to improper use. Officials shift blame to each other and state that much more money is needed to improve the landfill's condition.

Meanwhile, at least five children from houses near the landfill have fallen ill with cancer, allergies, and other diseases. Two girls, elementary school students, have died.

Some equipment at the Sarajevo landfill "Smiljevici" is destroyed or deteriorating due to improper use, and the control of potentially toxic substances is minimal. 

Sick Students

The Sarajevo landfill "Smiljevici" was a simple waste disposal site until 1997. Then, development began, and by 2011, gas collectors, a new leachate management system were installed, and bulldozers and other necessary equipment were purchased to make "Smiljevici" a modern landfill.

Investments stopped then, and problems began. In 2005, the Cantonal Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and Environmental Protection and the Sava River Water Agency purchased a leachate system for 1.9 million marks, and the Sarajevo Canton Construction Institute supervised the system's construction.

The Cantonal Public Utility Company (KJKP) "Rad," which manages the landfill, states that the system is unusable but that they were not involved in its procurement or the development of the project documentation. The director of "Rad," Selim Babić, says he never signed for his company to take over the facility "because it does not yield purification results as required by the project task."

The system was put into operation in 2011. Three months later, it broke down. "Because these membranes could not perform the purification. It got clogged," says Babić, denying that "Rad" is responsible for the malfunction.

Fuad Babić, a civil engineer from the Sarajevo Canton Construction Institute who managed the project, tells CIN that the problem was the different types of waste disposed of at the landfill:

"Unfortunately, since clinical waste, animal waste, and everything that can be thrown away in the Canton is thrown there, failure was inevitable."

Last year, this system was cleaned of sludge, and a new wastewater treatment device is expected to be tested at the "Smiljevici" landfill this summer.

In the meantime, water from the landfill flows without treatment into the Lepenicki stream, which flows past dozens of houses before emptying into the Bosna River. The Kasapovics and their thirteen-year-old daughter live in one of them. Three years ago, she was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a severe bone marrow disease. A doctor at the University Clinical Center Sarajevo wrote in her medical report that the possibility of remediating or relocating the landfill should be considered with the relevant authorities.

The girl's father, Selmir, took this opinion to the director of "Rad," Selim Babić.

"His secretary received me, and they laughed at me there and asked why I built a house near the landfill," recalls Kasapović, adding, "First, I didn't know it was a landfill then. Second, that was my fate."

The father of the sick girl, Selmir Kasapović, says that the utility company "Rad" laughed at him when he told them they should remediate the landfill, asking him why he built a house near the landfill. 

Most houses were built without permits, and officials often remind residents of this when they complain about the landfill. Residents protested at the end of 2016, demanding improved conditions at the landfill.

"They showed some understanding, they did something up at the dump, but it wasn't enough. Traces remain. Especially in children, the younger ones, and especially the older ones, not to mention," says resident Ahmo Ahmetspahić.

Almost nothing grows in the gardens in this area, and residents believe it is due to the Lepenicki stream.

"Even in the afternoon, when they release something black from upstream, especially on Fridays, when they release some black water, it's chaos! It smells, it stinks," says Ahmetspahić.

Dževad Muharemović lives right next to the landfill. He says that last year his black apples and cherries bore fruit, and since then, he has not grown anything else on his 12 dunams of land. He says it is difficult to endure the smells from the landfill.

"My eyelashes and nose hairs fall out. I run into the house, hide, close doors and windows because it's impossible to breathe that air," describes Muharemović's life near the landfill.

The landfill is surrounded by the settlements of Buća Potok, Smiljevici, Zabrđe, and Briješće. Many homes in these settlements have sick residents. These people most often suffer from cancer, respiratory, and blood diseases. Most of them believe that the cause is pollution from the landfill, but they cannot prove their suspicions because complex research is needed, which no one has yet conducted.

At least five children have fallen ill in previous years. Two girls have died.

The sick children are students of the elementary schools "Sokolje" and "Behaudin Selmanović" in Briješće. In the first semester of this school year, at the "Sokolje" elementary school, which has 749 students, there were 14,658 absences due to illness.

Principal Bećir Hasanović says this is a large number of absences and that many children in this school have respiratory problems.

Health institutions do not keep statistics on these illnesses by settlement, so there is no official stance from institutions on the health status of the population around the Sarajevo landfill.

Animal Waste

About 550 tons of waste arrive at "Smiljevici" every day, which should exclusively be household waste, but there is everything at this landfill.

Waste should be recycled in the recycling yard and sorting facility before it reaches the disposal site. 600,000 marks were invested in the yard, and it should open soon, while in the sorting facility, worth 800,000 marks, parts of the waste that can be reused are separated. However, the facility does not operate at full capacity because it requires pre-sorted waste to be brought to the landfill.

Experts say that recycling is most effective when done by citizens when discarding waste. However, "Rad" does not have the money for a sufficient number of containers.

While journalists were talking with the manager Abid Mulaomerović, a truck carrying animal waste from the meat industry arrived at the landfill. Although such waste should not be disposed of here, Mulaomerović says they have an order from the veterinary inspection to accept it:

"Because where else will it go? What to do with it? (...) Maybe it's better here than in the riverbed," says Mulaomerović, explaining that this is a major problem for the landfill with no solution.

This type of waste rots and releases gases. Because of this, a system of wells was built in 2001 to collect them and produce electricity from them, which was used by the citizens of Sarajevo. This system was destroyed five years ago during excavations in search of bodies of those killed in the war, which was carried out on the order of the BiH Prosecutor's Office. Engineer Babić says that they started working without consulting the KS Construction Institute. Because of this, the Institute sought compensation for damages, which has not yet been paid.

"We asked for 650,000 at the start. However, when we determined the extent of the damage to the gas installations, it was over a million," says Fuad Babić.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office refused to discuss this matter with CIN journalists. Instead, they sent a brief response stating that they would bear the costs of repair to bring everything "to the state it was in before the exhumation." They did not say when this would happen or why there has been a delay for years.

All CIN interviewees say that regular maintenance of the landfill requires a lot of money, which is only provided when all relevant cantonal institutions agree. The director of "Rad," Babić, explains that they can only wait in this process because they depend on others:

"(...) money must be invested to get results here. And in our country, investments are minimal, yet the expectation is for it to be like in Europe."

He says he asked the ministry for money for the landfill, but the KS Government had other priorities. Former Cantonal Minister of Environment Zlatko Petrović explained to CIN journalists that money has not been invested in recent years as before because budget funds have been reallocated for the needs of other ministries.

Experts say that basic maintenance of the Sarajevo landfill requires about two million marks annually. Former Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Elmedin Konaković tells CIN that this money could be secured: "I know that the Canton's budget is such that even with a Government rebalance, a few million that are likely needed can be found in an instant."

During his mandate in the last two years, the Government allocated more than two million marks for the landfill.

Water from the "Smiljevici" landfill is a significant pollutant of the Sava River basin. Water and air quality, as well as noise levels, are monitored in Smiljevici every month. The results for water have consistently shown a "red" mark for years, indicating high pollution. Due to pollution, KJKP "Rad" pays an average of 20 to 30 thousand marks in penalties to the Sava Water Agency each year. "Rad" has paid over 407 thousand KM on this basis in 15 years.

Residents are most concerned about the increasing number of illnesses and say they will continue to demand that authorities address the landfill. "There are mysterious deaths of some people, the cause of which no one can determine. However, no one has the right or basis to say that it is caused by the landfill itself, but it is a fact that illnesses and deaths are occurring," says resident Dževad Muharemović.

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