19 September 2019 - Montenegro will initiate all available mechanisms at the international level to protect the Cijevna River, as Albania did not respond to Montenegro’s concerns about the potential impact of mini-hydropower plants on the Cijevna. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Montenegro stated that Albania did not comply with the obligations arising from the Water Convention that the two countries signed last year in Skadar.
President of the Interstate Commission of Montenegro and Albania for Cooperation in Water Management and Managing Director of Water Management Directorate Momčilo Blagojević said that Montenegro would initiate all available mechanisms defined in international conventions, reports Cafe del Montenegro.
"Montenegro will initiate all available mechanisms to solve this issue by informing all the responsible secretariats in the Helsinki Committee, as well as the European Commission about planned activities on the Cijevna River that might have a serious impact on Montenegro," Blagojević explained.
He recalled that Montenegro first reacted last year after environmental activists warned that work had begun on the Cijevna riverbed in Albania, and provided footage of pipes placed in the river.
During the mid-August 2019 the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology of Montenegro conducted a research that showed that rivers Morača and Bojana mostly have a 'moderate status', which means that the chemical status in these rivers is not good.
Tara also has a moderate status in terms of water quality, while the water in Ćehotina is of low quality, the research shows. The cleanest river in the country is Cijevna, but the fact that the latest research did not include Piva, which had the highest quality water so far, should be taken into consideration when concluding.
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