Budva's tourist season begins with sewage spills into the sea

Budva, Montenegro's premier tourist destination, has kicked off its season with an environmental disaster: sewage has once again spilled into the sea on the popular Slovenska Beach. The unsightly and unsanitary scene unfolded near popular restaurants, with feces flowing unimpeded into the water in front of numerous beachgoers.

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Sewage has again spilled into the sea on Budva's popular Slovenska Beach, marring the start of the tourist season.

Regional media have highlighted the incident, with headlines like "Contagion threatens tourists" and "Feces go into the sea." This negative publicity comes at a critical time for Montenegro, which is hoping for an influx of tourists, partly due to geopolitical instability in the Middle East potentially diverting travelers. However, Budva has struggled with wastewater management for decades, lacking a permanent solution.

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Contagion threatens tourists

Despite significant investment in a wastewater treatment plant, sewage spills have become a recurring problem, especially during the summer months. Officials from Budva's Vodovod (water utility) stated that the issue is not solely a malfunction of their infrastructure. They identified illegal connections from sewage systems to rainwater drains as a key cause, creating a serious communal, ecological, and sanitary problem, particularly along the coast during peak tourist season.

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Feces go into the sea

Vodovod teams are actively working with local authorities and police to find and remove these illegal connections. The Grđevica riverbed, which often dries up in summer, has also become a dumping ground for waste and a site for sewage overflows. The municipality plans a major infrastructure project to cover the riverbed with a roadway, a 18 million euro undertaking, aiming to address these persistent issues and improve the quality of life in this vital tourist zone.

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According to findings from the field, one of the key causes is the existence of illegal connections of fecal sewage to atmospheric channels. Precisely such connections represent a serious communal, ecological, and sanitary problem, especially in the zone of maritime property and during the tourist season.