A large quantity of white foamy material first covered the Lepenec river, then carried downstream into the Vardar. Footage and photographs surfaced publicly and have been circulating for four days now. What has not surfaced in those same four days is the name of the polluter.

The Green Humane City initiative describes the case as another act of ecocide against the environment and is demanding the closure of the industrial plant that released the substance.

„This is only the latest in a long series of incidents caused by the absence of effective control over large industrial facilities, which can evidently pollute without fear of sanction and without any concern for the environment, biodiversity and the lives of citizens, as long as a few powerful people profit from it,” the initiative says. They are also calling for stricter enforcement, higher fines and public transparency about previous violations and penalties imposed.

The drone that went up on day one

The opposition SDSM came out today with direct accusations aimed at mayor Orce Ǵorǵievski. They recall that he immediately sent up a drone, announced there would be no tolerance for anyone and promised that whoever did this would be identified quickly.

„And? What did Orce and the drone find after four days? Who polluted Skopje, the Lepenec and the Vardar?” SDSM asks, accusing the mayor of going silent on the subject. The party wants an answer, not, as they put it, another promise.

The party skirmish over the drone is predictable and will last as long as these things last. What is not party political is this: the river runs through the city, the foam entered the Vardar, and nobody has yet said what exactly was released, in what concentrations, and what that means for the water downstream.

The environmental initiative's demand for a public register of past violations and penalties is the single most concrete thing this story has produced. Because if large industrial plants have a file that anyone can open, then „unknown polluter” stops being such a comfortable category.

The river cleaned itself, as it always does. That is not a solution - it is precisely why there is no pressure.