Over 1,200 residents of Gostivar ended up at the doctor within three or four days with the same symptoms - vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain, fever, weakness. The Food and Veterinary Agency (AHV) banned drinking the water from the city supply. And the director of the water utility and the mayor? They still insist there's no proof the water is to blame.

The contradiction is stark. On one side, an institution imposing a drinking-water ban over suspicion of serious contamination. On the other, the people responsible for that same water „defending“ it and asking everyone to wait for the lab. Who exactly is a Gostivar resident supposed to trust while filling a bottle from the tap?

What the inspection found

During an emergency inspection of the intake at Vrutok, inspectors found an unauthorised pump injecting water straight from the Vardar river into the main pipeline, with no approval whatsoever. According to police, the public utility „Vodovod“, working with the Municipality of Gostivar, had installed pumps in the wastewater channels and pumped water directly into the main line to raise the pressure. River water - untreated - was ending up in the drinking system.

The utility's director, Artana Asani, claims some of those who fell ill drank only bottled water, hinting the cause is spoiled food or high summer temperatures. Mayor Valbon Limani said that for now there's no official medical or lab evidence that the stomach problems came from the tap. The „Komunalec“ company, for its part, insists the pumps were used only briefly, on 25 and 26 June, for testing, and were switched off immediately.

Police are investigating on suspicion of contaminating drinking water under Article 219 of the Criminal Code. Final conclusions are pending the lab results and the end of the investigation.

But even without the lab, one thing is clear: someone was pumping Vardar river water into the drinking supply of an entire city. Whether or not that's the cause of the mass poisoning, the mere fact that it was possible - that someone's answer to low pressure was to draw water from the river - says everything about the state of the utility infrastructure. And while those in charge weigh their words and wait for findings, 1,200 people in Gostivar have already paid with their health. Who answers for this?