Water-management failure under complex hydrogeological conditions in the Kolubara District, Serbia

The design of the Rovni Lake reservoir in the Kolubara District, western Serbia, is the basis for the regional water-supply system there. The design was promoted as an example of integrative and sustainable water management, with regard to the planned provision for long-term municipal water supply in the Kolubara region, as well as for the regulation of the downstream river flow. Hydrogeological analyses, however, have indicated three key issues that contest this sustainable water-management model: (1) the capability of the available groundwater sources to fully meet the drinking water demands in the region, (2) a pronounced risk of water loss from the reservoir, and (3) a pronounced risk of karst aquifer contamination. The Rovni project ignores the hydrogeological properties of a karst aquifer and thereby needlessly threatens the groundwater resource. Hence, modifications to the project are recommended in order to mitigate or eliminate the most significant construction and ecological risk factors and to improve sustainable exploitation and integrative water-resource management.