• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • EEO PUBLIC FILE REPORT
  • FCC Public File
  • FCC Applications
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
    • WTMJ Conversations 2023: The Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • WTMJ Nights Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • The Truth on WTMJ: The Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • First Pitch
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
  • Features
    • WTMJ Cares: Polar Plunge with Vitrano for Special Olympics
    • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
    • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • 2023 Greater Milwaukee International Car & Truck Show
    • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
    • Every Day Health
    • Sunday Sip
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
    • WTMJ Conversations 2023: The Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • WTMJ Nights Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • The Truth on WTMJ: The Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • First Pitch
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
  • Features
    • WTMJ Cares: Polar Plunge with Vitrano for Special Olympics
    • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
    • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • 2023 Greater Milwaukee International Car & Truck Show
    • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
    • Every Day Health
    • Sunday Sip
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
No Result
View All Result

Sections of Balkan river become floating garbage dump

AP News by AP News
January 21, 2023
in AP National, AP News, National
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail

VISEGRAD, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Tons of waste dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into the waterways that flow across three countries end up accumulating behind a trash barrier in the Drina River in eastern Bosnia during the wet weather of winter and early spring.

This week, the barrier once again became the outer edge of a massive floating waste dump crammed with plastic bottles, rusty barrels, used tires, household appliances, driftwood and other garbage picked up by the river from its tributaries.

The river fencing installed by a Bosnian hydroelectric plant, a few kilometers upstream from its dam near Visegrad, has turned the city into an unwilling regional waste site, local environmental activists complain.

Heavy rain and unseasonably warm weather over the past week have caused many rivers and streams in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro to overflow, flooding the surrounding areas and forcing scores of people from their homes. Temperatures dropped in many areas on Friday as rain turned into snow.

“We had a lot of rainfall and torrential floods in recent days and a huge inflow of water from (the Drina’s tributaries in) Montenegro which is now, fortunately, subsiding,” said Dejan Furtula of the environmental group Eko Centar Visegrad.

“Unfortunately, the huge inflow of garbage has not ceased,” he added.

The Drina River runs 346 kilometers (215 miles) from the mountains of northwestern Montenegro through Serbia and Bosnia. and some of its tributaries are known for their emerald color and breathtaking scenery. A section along the border between Bosnia and Serbia is popular with river rafters when it’s not “garbage season.”

Some 10,000 cubic meters (more than 353,000 cubic feet) of waste are estimated to have amassed behind the Drina River trash barrier in recent days, Furtula said. The same amount was pulled in recent years from that area of the river.

Removing the garbage takes up to six months, on average. It ends up at the municipal landfill in Visegrad, which Furtula said “does not even have sufficient capacity to handle (the city’s) municipal waste.”

“The fires on the (municipal) landfill site are always burning,” he said, calling the conditions there “not just a huge environmental and health hazard, but also a big embarrassment for all of us.”

Decades after the devastating 1990s wars that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Balkans lag behind the rest of Europe both economically and with regard to environmental protection.

The countries of the region have made little progress in building effective, environmentally sound trash disposal systems despite seeking membership in the European Union and adopting some of the EU’s laws and regulations.

Unauthorized waste dumps dot hills and valleys throughout the region, while trash litters roads and plastic bags hang from the trees.

In addition to river pollution, many countries in the western Balkans have other environmental woes. One of the most pressing is the extremely high level of air pollution affecting a number of cities in the region.

“People need to wake up to problems like this,” Visegrad resident Rados Brekalovic said.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Previous Post

Turkey condemns Sweden protests, cancels ministers’ meeting

Next Post

Door of No Return: Yellen visits onetime slave-trading post

AP News

AP News

Stay Connected

  • 22.3k Followers
  • 1k Follower
  • 679 Subscribers

Most Popular

Extra Points: Just a Starting Point

Extra Points: Good for you, Gutey!

March 28, 2023
Extra Points: The Parity Party

Extra Points: The Parity Party

March 27, 2023
Milwaukee, Historic Third Ward, Menomonee Falls

2-year-old boy shot by another Milwaukee child who found unsecured gun, misfired

March 27, 2023
3 children killed in shooting at Nashville private school

3 children killed in shooting at Nashville private school

March 27, 2023
Extra Points: The great debate of health vs. seeding

Extra Points: The great debate of health vs. seeding

March 27, 2023
WTMJ

For more than 90 years, WTMJ-AM has been "Wisconsin's Radio Station".

Follow Us

Home

News

Weather

Traffic

Sports

Shows

Podcasts

Features

Careers

Contests

Recent News

Extra Points: Just a Starting Point

Extra Points: Good for you, Gutey!

March 28, 2023
Extra Points: The Parity Party

Extra Points: The Parity Party

March 27, 2023
  • Home
  • News
  • Weather
  • Traffic
  • Sports
  • Shows
  • Podcasts
  • Features
  • Contests

© 2022 Good Karma Brands, LLC.

  • LISTEN LIVE
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Local News
    • Coronavirus
    • Decision Wisconsin
  • Weather
    • Weather
    • Watches and Warnings
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
  • Traffic
  • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
    • Milwaukee Brewers
    • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Shows
    • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Featured Shows
  • Podcasts
  • Features
    • Features
    • Good Karma Give Back
    • WTMJ Roundtable
  • Contests
  • Alexa
No Result
View All Result

© 2022 Good Karma Brands, LLC.