After the incident with the water in Gostivar, a quiet panic began to spread among Skopje residents - and full trolleys of bottled water in the shops. From the Skopje water utility, the message is clear: the water in the capital is safe to drink.

After the recent incident with drinking water in Gostivar, unfounded rumours about an alleged fault in the water network in Skopje too began to circulate in the capital. Driven by fear and by information that spreads quickly „from someone you trust”, more and more citizens are buying bottled water these days.

The public enterprise „Water Supply and Sewerage” - Skopje categorically rejects the speculation. „Accredited laboratories, in line with the ISO 17025 standard, take samples every day from 36 regular measuring points in the city of Skopje,” the enterprise stresses. At this time of year, the Nerezi-Lepenec well stretch is also included in the monitoring. All tested samples, they say, meet the criteria of the Rulebook on the safety and quality of drinking water.

The enterprise reminds that Skopje is supplied with water from one of the highest-quality natural sources in the region, which is under constant laboratory and expert supervision. The public, they add, is regularly and transparently informed about the safety of the water through weekly reports.

And here we come to what Gostivar really changed - trust. Once a doubt appears that the water from the tap is not safe, no report ever reads the same. The utility's appeal not to give in to unverified sources is correct - but panic is not born of nothing. It is born when citizens are no longer sure that the institutions will tell them in time if something goes wrong. Skopje's water is safe. The question Gostivar left open is whether we will always be told in time when it is not.