Water from the tap by the church in Belotino and from the tap in the centre of Rič was found to contain bacteria indicating faecal contamination. That is the finding of the Public Health Centre in Strumica, after microbiological and physico-chemical analysis. Neither sample meets the requirements of the water safety regulations.

The Strumica municipality reacted in the fastest way available: it put up notices saying the water must not be drunk. The ban will hold until new tests show otherwise. The authorities stress something important - these taps are not connected to the town's water network, nor to the networks of other settlements. So the problem is local, contained, under control.

Except that it isn't new.

The second time in two years

In February 2024, the Food and Veterinary Agency banned the use of water in Rič, Belotino and three other Strumica villages - back then over a lack of residual chlorine, meaning the water had not been properly disinfected. The agency later claimed the municipality had not complied with its ruling and launched misdemeanour proceedings.

Two years on: the same two villages, the same taps, unsafe water again. The difference is that this time it isn't insufficient chlorine but faecal indicators. That is a step down, not up.

How far is Strumica from Rič?

Rič is around 21 kilometres from the town, at 509 metres above sea level. Belotino is around 16 kilometres away, at 518 metres. By road, depending where you start, it can be up to 25 kilometres to Strumica. These are hill villages where access to basic services has been difficult for years - and where the tap in the village centre is not a romantic detail of rural life but the water supply.

The notice on the tap is exactly what an institution can do immediately. The question is what the institution does between the two bans. From February 2024 to July 2026, nearly two and a half years passed. If routine monitoring is what catches these cases, then the system works. If the ban only arrives after someone happens to test a sample, then the people of Rič and Belotino spent two years drinking water nobody knew anything about.

The notice hangs on the tap. The answer to that question still hangs nowhere.