Alarming pollution in Çërrava/ The reservoir dam burst floods the land with waste and inert materials

2025-12-08 16:54:00, Aktualitet CNA

Alarming pollution in Çërrava/ The reservoir dam burst floods the

In the village of Çërravë in Pogradec, dozens of hectares of agricultural land have been severely damaged after the reservoir dam burst, just a few months after it was reconstructed by the Pogradec Municipality. The water has carried away waste buried over the years and scattered it across the plots, covering all the planted crops with manure, stones and gravel.

Residents say they have been facing an unprecedented situation for days. The lands where they cultivate wheat, barley and alfalfa, the main source of livestock feed and family income, are now unharvestable without the intervention of institutions.

"The floods, there was a reservoir up there, they did what they damned it to, they tore it up and they hurt us here. Here is 5-6 hectares flooded, with stones and gravel. I have 4 dunyams, my uncle's son 5-6 dunyams, all planted with barley and alfalfa. It is not being cleaned. Please have the municipality come with an excavator, remove the inert materials. I have nothing to do with the land now, it is not being planted. The damage is 300-400 thousand old lek. The municipality told us 'we will come, we will clean it', but no one is in sight.

The reservoir here was built 5-6 months ago, an investment by the Municipality of Pogradec. During the rains, it broke off, eroded the entire restored area and took the slope, garbage and waste, bringing them to the ravines. If it rains again, it will get worse. These are for livestock, alfalfa that we harvest tomorrow. The wheat, one dunyam, is filled with stones and gravel. There are 4 families who are engaged in agriculture here, and other uncultivated lands. God saved us, because there were nets, otherwise the gravel would have reached the house.

We use the reservoir to irrigate the land. This has been done since the communist era, then the villagers dug it themselves and it became a large canal. The municipality came, filled it, but not properly. That was where we used to throw garbage before and when there was a flood they took all the money. The land is damaged, what can you do with it? Full of stones. Whoever made the reservoir should be taken to Spaç", the residents said.

Residents are asking the Pogradec Municipality for immediate intervention to clear the land with heavy equipment and repair the irrigation canal, which they say collapsed just a few months after it was built. Meanwhile, they say that every day of delay brings them more losses, as agricultural crops cannot be saved and livestock feed is at risk. The situation in Çërrava remains dire and residents are expecting an urgent solution to avoid an even greater catastrophe if the rains return. /CNA