On Thursday, September 23, 2021 in Županja, Croatia, the 3rd Regional Workshop was held within the project Water Contingency Management in the Sava River Basin (WACOM).

The workshop " Accident with spillage of a large amount of petroleum products from an industrial plant in the Bosna River Basin and action in case of flood " was organized in cooperation with the Republic Administration of Civil Protection of the Republic of Srpska, Association for Risk Management AZUR, International Sava River Basin Commission and Jaroslav Černi Institute of Water Management in Serbia.

The purpose of this workshop was to successfully prepare a simulation of a table-top exercise in a situation of accidental pollution of the Sava River from an industrial plant in the Bosna River Basin and action in case of floods, which will take place in May 2022. Participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia analyzed the table-top exercise scenario and identified clear roles that different institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia will play during its implementation. Also, communication and decision-making protocols were simulated and a scenario for crisis management of competent institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in case of similar crisis situations was developed.

In his introductory speech, Krunoslav Šarić, Director of the Županja Tourist Board, emphasized the importance of implementing projects such as the Water Contingency Management project in the Sava River Basin (WACOM) and developing new protocols, procedures and responses to such crisis situations, recalling the catastrophic floods of 2014 and problems and challenges in the field that still exist and require joint cooperation of institutions.

Deputy Director of the Public Company "Port of Brčko", Snježana Novaković also stressed the importance of holding such regional workshops and stressed the importance of participation of the Public Company "Port of Brčko" in the WACOM project and gaining new knowledge and institutional cooperation in such or similar crises in the Sava River Basin.

Dušan Kostić from the Jaroslav Černi Institute of Water Management in the Republic of Serbia said that the Republic of Serbia, as the most downstream country in the Sava River Basin, is highly motivated for international cooperation in the field of flood protection and accidental pollution. The Republic of Serbia became part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism in 2015, but further international cooperation is needed in order to strengthen technical and human resources, capacities and knowledge and use the benefits of membership in the European Civil Protection Mechanism as efficiently as possible. At today's extremely successful workshop in Županja, participants exchanged existing experiences, gained new knowledge, touched on new issues and dilemmas and defined guidelines that will enable further successful activities of the WACOM project, in the interest of countries in the Sava River Basin.

The event was covered by folowing media: 

HR: Radio Županja, Radio

BA: Frontal and Srpska info, 

RS: Agrosmart

All presentations are available here.