Pogradec Water Supply and Wastewater Collection Systems

Wastewater infrastructure in Albania is inadequate; it is either non-existent or of very limited extent and very poor quality. The result is dangerous and deleterious to human health and the environment. To rectify this the country has embarked on a wide-ranging number of projects. In Pogradec, the WBIF helped with an EU capital investment grant of EUR 3.5 million.

This project built on previous and ongoing efforts for environmental protection of Lake Ohrid and its coastal towns. Human and industrial waste and wastewater are generally not adequately treated in Albania. In Pogradec, the wastewater generated by the town had been discharged untreated into Lake Ohrid. The wastewater in the area of Pogradec was the single largest water quality challenge to the lake, significantly contributing to excessive plant growth that disrupts its ecosystem and threatening human health through contamination by harmful bacteria and viruses.

In 2001, the German Government, through KfW, and the Swiss Government, through Staatssekretariat fur Wirtschaft (SECO), launched a first phase of investments providing funding to design and construct sewerage collectors and a wastewater treatment plant for Pogradec and the surrounding villages. Pogradec wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was completed under phase I, which included adding more connectors to the southeast and east of Pogradec and phosphor removal. The network will be further extended in Bucimas Commune, and water supply improved in the villages of Gurras, Remenj and Verdove; their existing water supply network will be rehabilitated. On completion of phase III, all villages of Pogradec supply area will benefit from reliable drinking water. 

The WBIF supported the extension of the sewerage system in Pogradec, to allow for the treatment of all the wastewater produced in the Pogradec area. The construction of the entire system was completed in 2016.