Residents of the remote and hard-to-reach local communities of Jablanica and Karadaglije in the municipality of Tešanj will soon, after decades of waiting and struggling for drinking water, gain stable and secure access to the city water supply network.

These communities, located among dense forests and steep slopes, have long posed a major challenge for infrastructure works. Due to their remoteness and difficult terrain, a regular and reliable water supply had never been established in this part of Tešanj.

Despite this, local residents have coped for years by collecting water from small springs and storing it in improvised reservoirs.

“The water is collected through small catchments into temporary reservoirs and then distributed by gravity to households. However, during the summer months, when droughts are severe, these springs dry up quickly. We are then forced to transport water in barrels to our improvised reservoirs, often from more distant places where there is more water. Sometimes we also receive water from the city water supply via tankers, which only temporarily eases the situation,” says local resident Nihad Halilović.

For Nihad and his neighbours, the struggle for drinking water has been a daily reality, taking significant time, effort, and money. Although surrounded by nature and greenery, residents of this area have been unable to develop agriculture and livestock farming due to the lack of water.