Landfills on the banks of Timok from Zaječar to the mouth of Danube

Abstract

Timok is created by merging the Black and White (Knjaževac) Timok in Zaječar, and then, after a course of about 85 km, flows into the Danube. Timok flows besides several small settlements, it has more meanders, and at last 15 km is a border river between Serbia and Bulgaria. Zaječar has about 50.000 inhabitants, while in other settlements around the Timok live about 20.000 inhabitants. City landfill of municipal waste in Zaječar is located on the banks of the river Timok, near the place Halovo, about 11 km downstream of Zaječar. This is the biggest landfill on the banks of Timok. There are around ten smaller registered landfills, but also there are several wild, unregistered landfills next to the smaller rural settlements. Industrial waste is incomplete, inadequate processed in Zaječar, as in whole Serbia. Most of the industrial waste from companies in Zaječar is stored on Halovo landfill, since this waste is mixed and transported together with municipal waste. The plan for Halovo is to become a regional landfill for six neighboring municipalities and the process is ongoing. Water level of the river Timok depends much on the climate change, pollution of its waters must be prevented and their quality is continuously controlled, since it belongs to the international, Danube basin. On coastal of Timok there are more mini-livestock farms which also have negative influence on water quality of Timok. Borska and Sikolska rivers are the largest tributaries of Timok and their waters also affect water quality of Timok. The obligation of modern society and one of the strategic and development activities in Serbia is regulation of banks and coastal areas, waste management and construction of sanitary landfills.

Timok nastaje spajanjem Crnog i Belog (Knjaževačkog) Timoka u Zaječaru, a zatim, posle toka od oko 85 km, uliva se u Dunav. Timok protiče pored nekoliko manjih naselja, ima više meandara, a poslednjih 15 km granična je reka između Srbije i Bugarske. Grad Zaječar ima oko 50.000 stanovnika, a u ostalim naseljima oko Timoka živi još oko 20.000 stanovnika. Gradska deponija komunalnog otpada Zaječara nalazi se na obali reke Timok, kod mesta Halovo, na oko 11 km nizvodno od Zaječara. Ovo je najveća deponija na obalama Timoka. Ima još desetak manjih, registrovanih deponija, ali i više divljih, neregistrovanih deponija pored manjih seoskih naselja. Industrijski otpad se nepotpuno, nedovoljno prerađuje u Zaječaru, kao i u celoj Srbiji. Na deponiji Halovo skladišti se veliki deo industrijskog otpada preduzeća iz Zaječara, jer se ovaj otpad meša i otprema sa komunalnim otpadom. Planirano je da deponija u Halovu postane regionalna deponija za šest susednih opština i ovaj proces je u toku. Vodostaj reke Timok mnogo zavisi od klimatskih promena, a zagađivanje njegovih voda mora se sprečiti i njihov kvalitet kontinualno kontrolisati, s obzirom da reka Timok pripada međunarodnom, Dunavskom slivu. Na priobalju Timoka ima i više mini stočarskih farmi koje, takođe, mogu ugroziti kvalitet voda Timoka. Borska i Sikolska reka najveće su pritoke Timoka i njihove vode takođe utiču na kvalitet voda Timoka. Uređenje obala i priobalja, upravljanje otpadom i izgradnja sanitarnih deponija obaveza je savremenog društva i jedna od strategijsko-razvojnih delatnosti u Srbiji.