AN ASSESSMENT OF THE WATER QUALITY AND ECOLOGICAL STATUS OF SITNICA RIVER, KOSOVO

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess and present the contamination with some environmental toxic parameters of water samples of Sitnica River, Kosovo. Sitnica River is one of the main rivers in Kosovo. The river is located in the area with high anthropogenic pressure, were the contamination of river with different pollutants presents a complex long-term environmental problem. The water samples from Sitnica River were collected from five stations every three months. These stations are covering the upstream and downstream sites of major industrial area of Obiliq city close to Thermo Power Plant (TPP) Kosovo “B” as the main power plant in the country. This Thermo Power Plant apart from air and soil pollution is considered as main source of contamination for the river water as well due to the direct discharged of waste water without any prior treatment. International permissible limits (75/440/EEC) and Kosovo National limits (UA13/2008) were applied to assess the river water contamination. Physico-chemical parameters in water samples from Sitnica River were determined to assess the level of contamination. The concentrations of some toxic parameters such: Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, Al³⁺, Cr³⁺, NO₂^--N, NO₃^--N, NH₃-N, PO₄^3--P were measured using UV-VIS spectrophotometry in accordance with standard method US EPA 6010C.The results showed that the Sitnica River is heavily polluted. The results were summarized using the program Statistica 6.0 descriptive statistical method. In order to protect the river water from further contamination, the remediation options in order to reduce the anthropogenic discharges are suggested.