The water at Popova Šapka is not safe to drink. This is not some visitor's guess, but an official statement from the public utility company "Šari" in Tetovo.

The reason, according to the utility: disinfection and chlorination of the water in the supply network have not been carried out. The water may be used only as non-potable water and is not recommended for drinking.

"Šari" adds that the public will be informed in good time once the water is safe again.

An August weekend at a ski resort

It is worth pausing here for a moment. Popova Šapka is not an abandoned mountain settlement in March. It is one of the most visited summer destinations in the country, packed with holiday cottages, hotels, restaurants and visitors escaping the 40 degrees down in the valley.

And precisely in that period, at peak occupancy, the water system is running without chlorination.

This is not a fault that occurred overnight. Disinfection is not an emergency intervention - it is a routine, regular, scheduled procedure that every water utility has written into its own annual plan. When it has not been carried out, that means something in that plan has not been working for months, not hours.

The statement is exactly what it should be - clear and timely. The question the statement does not open is a different one: how long was unchlorinated water flowing through the network before somebody wrote this notice? That is a number only the utility has.