Vis Landfill
Above remediation valueMedia tested
Summary
Vis is an informal, non-sanitary dump on Vis hill near Kalesija, in use for about twenty years and inactive for the last ten or so. The surface is soil-covered and overgrown with forest, but waste is still dumped occasionally. The highly permeable limestone-dolomite bedrock allows rapid seepage, and about 400 metres downhill there is a captured spring from which residents drink. Preliminary testing revealed heavier contamination: nickel in the soil and sediment was far above the level indicating that cleanup is needed, chromium reached that level in the surface soil and the sediment, and in the drinking spring itself cadmium exceeded the water-quality standard.
Assessment findings
Findings of concern
- In the surface soil, the deeper soil and the sediment, nickel was far above the level indicating that cleanup is needed — the most serious finding at the site.
- Chromium in the surface soil and the sediment likewise reached that level indicating that cleanup is needed.
- Cobalt was above the level at which land is no longer considered clean across all the tested soil and sediment, and cadmium, copper and zinc in the surface soil and sediment.
- In the nearby captured spring that residents use for drinking, cadmium exceeded the water-quality standard, alongside already-observed signs of biological contamination.
Positive findings
- Lead and selenium were within limits across all the tested soil and sediment.
- In the deeper soil layer, cadmium, copper and zinc stayed within limits — less contaminated than the surface layer.
- Oil-related and combustion-related pollutants were within limits in all the soil and sediment samples, and the leachate sample from the roadside channel met the discharge limits.
Photo gallery
The project results have been submitted to the competent institutions as a basis for improving regulation and for strategic planning of further activities.
Legal basis
- Decision on the characterization of surface and groundwater, reference conditions and parameters for water status assessment and water monitoring (Official Gazette of FBiH No. 01/14)
- Decree on the conditions for the discharge of wastewater into the environment and public sewerage systems (Official Gazette of FBiH No. 26/20, 96/20, 01/24)
- Rulebook on limit and remediation values of polluting, harmful and hazardous substances in soil (Official Gazette of RS No. 82/21)
Due to the absence of reference values for soil and sediment in the Federation of BiH, the Republika Srpska rulebook is applied as a reference framework to ensure methodological consistency between the entities.
