Macut Launches Work on Serbia's 30-Year Water Strategy
In a written interview with Tanjug, the prime minister said work has begun on a long-term water strategy, three weeks after he set three priorities at Srbijavode.
Serbian Prime Minister Djuro Macut said in a written interview with Tanjug, published on August 10, that he has initiated work on a long-term water strategy for Serbia spanning the next 30 years. In the same interview, he said the state is monitoring the situation with high temperatures, wildfires and low water levels on a daily basis, that all emergency services are on standby, and that everything necessary will be done to protect people, the country’s energy stability and its natural resources. He also said this summer sent a serious warning and that the state must learn lessons from situations like this one.
The water issue has reached the public in pieces this summer: an appeal for rational consumption, an emergency staff session, a visit to a state company. The strategy announcement is the first time these moves have been tied to a single document and to a timeframe that extends well beyond a single term in office.
What preceded the announcement
A session of the Emergency Situations Staff was held on August 7 at the Serbian government building, prompted by high temperatures, wildfires and water levels. The session was attended by Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, head of the Sector for Emergency Situations Luka Causic, ministers Adrijana Mesarovic, Aleksandra Sofronijevic, Nemanja Starovic, Boris Bratina and Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, as well as the head of Vojvodina’s provincial government, Maja Gojkovic.
Four days before that session, on August 3, Macut said the energy situation was stable, while urging citizens to use electricity and water sparingly. The sequence is clear: first a message about stability, then coordination among services, then the announcement of a document.
Three priorities set back in July
The framework now being expanded into a strategy was laid out on July 22, when Macut visited Srbijavode, the state water management company. At the time, he named three strategic priorities for the country:
- flood protection
- reliable water supply
- development of irrigation systems
“That is why it is important that we continue modernizing existing infrastructure and carry out new capital projects,” Macut said after talks with the company’s leadership.
Figures from that same visit show the scale of the system involved. Srbijavode manages 43 dams with reservoirs, more than 2,100 kilometers of levees and nearly 5,000 kilometers of drainage canals. Two projects the government is treating as strategic, the Selova dam and the Svrackovo dam, are currently underway.
Why is the strategy coming now?
The answer lies as much in the weather forecast as in the investment calendar. Srbijavode director Goran Puzovic said the situation in the sector is considerably safer than in previous years, adding that technical documentation is being prepared for the investment period that follows the Expo 2027 international specialized exhibition.
That means most new investment in water management has yet to begin, and a document with a three-decade horizon is arriving right as decisions are being made about what goes on that list. The levees, reservoirs and canals built after 2027 will be a direct result of what gets written into the strategy now.
What has been announced so far does not show who is drafting the document, what timeline is expected for a draft, or whether it will go before parliament. The first verifiable step will be exactly those two details, the name of the drafting body and the deadline. Until then, the situation is being measured day by day this August, through water levels, consumption and the number of wildfires on the ground.
