From south to north, riverbeds are filled with illegal urban waste dumps, causing environmental and health damage, while responsible institutions turn a blind eye.
Tons of waste join the pollution around the Elbasan incinerator, while other waste arrives in the Shkumbini stream from landfills along the Papër stream. Further on, in Peqin, piles of waste and inert materials are dumped directly into the river.
Once with crystal clear water, the Shkumbini River is today one of the most polluted in the country.
"The entire Shkumbin River is a big hotspot, because the landfills along the Shkumbin were never rehabilitated. I don't know if the municipalities are dumping waste in the Elbasan landfill," says Ornela Çuçi, an environmental expert.
But Shkumbini is not alone. From south to north, piles of garbage have been dumped in illegal landfills in riverbeds for years, polluting the waters with piles of plastic, bags that flutter in the surrounding trees, and inert materials that rise like hills and slide into the water.
In the Devoll River that flows near Gramsh, urban and inert waste is found in the riverbed, waiting for the rainy season to move it from there towards Lake Banja. In Obot of Shkodra in the north of the country, streams that flow down to the Buna River bring waste from surrounding settlements, just like on the banks of the Fan and Gjadër rivers, where there are illegal waste dumps that end up in the Adriatic Sea.
Environmental experts blame the dysfunctional urban waste management system in Albania, as do the responsible institutions and the citizens themselves.
According to Denisa Kasa, an environmental activist, a large part of local communities are still not aware of environmental damage.
"As part of civil society, we have continuously organized cleanups along rivers, but also activities to get to know rivers. We must bear in mind that a large part of communities and people are not aware of the continuity of a river from beginning to end and what happens along it," said Kasa.
Aleko Miho, professor at the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, also emphasizes the need for awareness.
"The civic part is important, so we all together have to fight for awareness as a society. Society really needs to be aware of this, schools have a lot to do with environmental education," he said.
Among the dozens of clandestine landfills, there are also those that are certified and used by local governments in violation of legal provisions. Such landfills are particularly problematic for the Vjosa River.
"In Vjosa we have several landfills that are very close to the river. We have Këlcyra, Tepelena, so throughout the Vjosa we have several waste landfills. The closer to the river, the more direct the pollution is to the river," says Besjana Guri, director of the "Lumi" environmental center.
Professor Aleko Miho is also concerned about the pollution of the Vjosa River, declared a National Park by the Albanian government.
"Along the Vjosa there are some discharges coming from residential areas, which are liquid discharges that you see and you don't see. We often see the ones that are visible, a landfill or distribution along the river or in its delta of plastic waste. But the pollution is distributed, it is in the river, it is throughout its basin," said Miho.
The effects of river pollution from waste have crossed Albania's borders. For years, Montenegro and Croatia have complained about plastic waste, which is carried into their territory by sea currents.
“Fortunately in Albania, coastal currents do not leave us with all the waste that we deposit in the Adriatic Sea, but they take the coastal currents and carry them to Croatia or to the end of the coast of Montenegro. So, taking it out of our moment, we take the waste and hide it under the carpet as always,” says Ornela Çuçi. “In this case, our undercarriage is Croatia, and they complain,” she added.
Professor Aleko Miho says that plastic waste in Albania's rivers causes numerous environmental and health problems, so he calls for polluters to pay for this damage.
"A plastic in water has all the time to break down and release microplastics, most of which are carcinogenic," explains Miho.
"The polluter must pay. Even the citizen who pollutes must pay, even the one who dumps garbage on the riverbank without asking must pay, even the municipality that does not take care of garbage collection has its share of responsibility," he adds.
After the failure of tens of millions of euros in investments in urban waste treatment, the government has recently prepared another law and strategy. But environmental experts are skeptical about their application in practice.
"This issue of strategies has started to become comical. The first strategy that was made in 2011 was seen to have been implemented very little. With the help of GIZ, another strategy was made. Now, there is a need for a strategy again after 5 years, which means that we are unable to even plan what we should do, and this is mainly due to the lack of clear management of major works in this country," concluded Çuçi./BIRN
