Water Restrictions Begin in Arilje: Neighborhood Schedule
Starting today, Arilje rations water by neighborhood. Bogojevici and Latvica lose water mornings and evenings, five villages go dry at night, and garden watering and pool filling face closer control.
Does Arilje have water all day starting today? No, and not in every neighborhood. Water restrictions in Arilje took effect on August 7, under a decision by the municipal Emergency Situations Staff, announced on the evening of August 6.
The cause is reduced inflow from the regional Rzav water supply system. The planned shutoffs aren’t the same for everyone, they’re split by neighborhood with different schedules, so the first step is finding your own neighborhood on the list.
When exactly the water goes off, by neighborhood
- Bogojevici and Latvica: no water from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 8 to 10 p.m.
- Virovo, Lopas, Donja Kravarica, Grdovici and Vrane: no water overnight, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The schedule isn’t locked in. According to the municipality, the time slots depend on current consumption and on how much water is arriving through the Rzav system, so changes are possible if the need arises. The hours in effect today may not hold in ten days.
What now falls under stricter monitoring
Shutoffs come with tighter oversight of consumption. Monitoring of water use from the municipal supply has been stepped up, with three things drawing particular attention:
- watering gardens and green areas
- filling pools and reservoirs
- washing cars, terraces and yards
The Emergency Situations Staff made clear the monitoring won’t stay on paper.
Proceedings will be launched, in line with the applicable regulations, against everyone found violating the prescribed measures.
Residents are asked to use the available water rationally and strictly for drinking, food preparation and personal hygiene. The goal of the decision, as stated, is to preserve the stability of the water supply while available quantities remain limited.
Why this is news, not just another network glitch
Until now, the message during this drought wave had been different. We reported on how the Danube’s falling level was halting pumping stations, with the operational team assuring that the water supply remained stable and that there were no restrictions. Arilje is the first municipality in this wave to come out with an hourly shutoff schedule by neighborhood, along with an announcement of proceedings against anyone using water outside its intended purpose.
And it isn’t alone. On the same day, stepped up water consumption controls were also announced in Prijepolje. Two municipalities in the same district, the same day, the same reason.
How to plan your day if you’re in a shutoff zone
The schedules were published in advance, and that’s the one piece of good news in this story, because the day can be planned around them. A few steps that come down to reading the schedule:
- Fill a pitcher and bottles for drinking before your time slot starts, not in the last five minutes
- Run the washing machine and dishwasher outside your slot. For neighborhoods on the night schedule, that means before 10 p.m.
- In Bogojevici and Latvica, shower before 6 a.m. or after 9 a.m., or in the evening before 8 p.m.
- Leave one container of water by the bathroom, since a cutoff also means the toilet tank stays empty
- Shut off faucets before the slot begins, so an open tap doesn’t stay forgotten until the water comes back
Watering the garden, filling a kiddie pool in the yard and washing the car outside the building are, under this decision, matters for another time. That’s exactly what the municipality is watching for now.
What nobody has announced is how long this regime will last. The decision has no deadline, it’s tied to inflow from the Rzav, and that depends on rainfall that doesn’t come on a schedule.
