There's at least one good summer for one of our lakes. According to the latest assessment by the Institute of Public Health, Lake Prespa is relatively stable this season - the water at most measuring points meets the legal quality standards. In short: for now, Prespa remains safe for swimming.

But „for now” is a phrase that hides a whole story. At the same time the Institute reminds us of the problems that don't go away: wastewater in the Prespa region still ends up in septic pits instead of a proper system, and a large number of holiday homes have no arranged drainage at all. The lake breathes - but it breathes under conditions no one would call healthy in the long run.

The recommendations are clear and, sadly, familiar from before: an urgent improvement in the collection and treatment of wastewater, and better management of solid waste in residential and tourist areas. In other words, infrastructure that should have been finished years ago, not recommended every summer all over again.

The picture darkens when Prespa is compared with its neighbors. Lake Ohrid is in seriously worse shape - fecal waters and faulty sewage, with many hotels and houses not connected to the collector. Lake Dojran, for its part, is fighting pesticides and artificial fertilizers from agriculture, to the point that a joint Macedonian-Greek action is being called for.

So we have three lakes and three different ways in which the same disease slowly threatens them - unfinished infrastructure. Prespa got through this time. But the Institute's own conclusion leaves no room for complacency: without fully implemented collector systems and without connecting every building to the sewage network, „safe for swimming” is a status borrowed year after year, not guaranteed.