Cacak Fifth Day Without Water, Mayor on Sick Leave

More than 200,000 people in western Serbia have been without water for a fifth day after a main pipe burst on the regional Rzav system, in the Gorobilje area near Pozega. Residents of Pozega, Cacak, Lucani and Gornji Milanovac have been left without supply, and a state of emergency has been declared in Cacak and Gornji Milanovac.

Water tankers are being distributed by priority, above all to the hospital, kindergartens, schools and food producers, and the army is helping deliver water. Residents have waited days for tankers in hot weather while crews work to repair the failure. Estimates of when water might return have been pushed back several times.

Who runs the city while the crisis lasts?

In the middle of the biggest utility crisis in years, the mayor of Cacak, Milun Todorovic, is on sick leave due to health problems. The opposition has been asking for a year who actually runs the city, and now, as they put it, we are seeing the outcome of that uncertainty. Deputies are taking over duties, while official communication remains thin.

Deputy Mayor Vladan Milic said the water utility had made all its tankers available to the city and that water is being shared by priority. Still, for residents who cannot wash dishes, bathe their children or fill bottles for a fifth day, explanations about priorities are little comfort.

Is this just a breakdown or something more?

A burst trunk main is a technical failure, but the scale of the consequences raises questions about system maintenance and the local government’s readiness to act in an emergency. When one failure leaves four municipalities without water for five days, it also shows how vulnerable the infrastructure is.

The question residents are asking is not only when the water will return, but who answers when it is gone for so long. Do you think there will be concrete accountability after this crisis, or will it all end with promises that the fault has been repaired?