Groundwater near the Jugohrom landfill is polluted up to 100.000 times more than the permitted levels of hexavalent chromium, according to a study prepared by GIM to find a permanent solution for this industrial hotspot in the country.
Over 7300 tons of this extremely carcinogenic waste, stored just one kilometer from the village of Jegunovc, threaten to permanently pollute the Rasca spring and leave Skopje without clean drinking water. The industrial waste, dumped for decades on an area of 7.5 hectares, is water-soluble, but despite this, it still remains unsecured, writes Meta.mk, reports Express.
The landfill, which is considered one of the industrial hotspots in Macedonia, has 2.2 million tons of waste deposited between 1963 and 2016, of which about 7388 tons are hexavalent chromium. An ecological disaster is only a matter of time if urgent action is not taken to permanently solve the problem. The landfill is located just 50 meters from the Vardar River and 80 meters from the karst aquifer that feeds Rashche, a drinking water source of strategic national interest, in its protection zone. It contains a large amount of hazardous waste that easily dissolves in water, but despite this, it is unprotected both on the surface and in depth.
The Ministry of Environment's water treatment plant, which is supposed to collect and purify groundwater, is inadequate and lacks sufficient capacity, while the function of the drainage system is questionable. As a result, polluted water from the landfill often flows into the Vardar River in large quantities, startingr from 50 to 100 cubic meters per day. Concentrations of hexavalent chromium in groundwater reach from 10 to 500 milligrams per liter, and up to 1.000 milligrams per liter in the drainage system, although the permitted values are 0.01 milligrams per literDuring these periods, as a result of mixing with groundwater, 40 to 70 kilograms of hexavalent chromium per day end up in the Vardar River. River water quality analyses conducted since 2019 show that in the Vardar stream immediately after the landfill, there is seven times higher pollution with hexavalent chromium than the permitted amounts.
Professor Trajce Stafilov says these results are expected, based on water tests that have been conducted near Jugohrom over the past thirty years. He says that currently the water quality in Rashce is excellent and that all measures must be taken to avoid the risk of pollution.
"No one can say if or when it could happen that waters contaminated with hexavalent chromium reach the sources that feed Rasht. We know that the waters of Shars pass under the landfill and the risk always exists. Especially since the capacity of the treatment plant is much lower than the real need and in my opinion this is the first and most urgent investment that needs to be made," says Stafilov.
The study, although completed in 2024, was recently updated following a warning from the civil society organization "Eko Svest" regarding the risk of delaying finding a permanent solution for hazardous waste in Jugohrom. Ana Cholovic Leshoska, executive director of "Eko Svest", says that the Ministry of Environment has had the document for more than a year and it analyzes the risks and solutions for toxic waste, which are supported by measurements and analyses of the surrounding waters.
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