Wastewater from a rural guesthouse in RS: septic tank, water-law acts, water sources

Most rural households in East Herzegovina have no public sewer. If you host guests, you must collect and treat the wastewater from the house so that it does not pollute groundwater or surface water. The rules below cover septic tanks, Emscher tanks, closed tanks and small treatment units at accommodation.

In short

• A household without a public sewer connection must collect and treat its wastewater so that the pollution risk is no higher than the permitted level (Law on Waters, Art. 58).
• Direct discharge of wastewater into groundwater is banned. Indirect discharge is allowed only under the conditions of the law and its regulations (Art. 57). Discharge into natural lakes, fishponds and marshes is also banned.
• Water-law acts (water guidelines, water consent, water permit) are needed when wastewater leaves the building. For business premises, including hospitality and tourism, they are issued by the public institution JU "Vode Srpske"; for residential buildings up to 1,000 m2 gross area, by the municipality. A permit is issued for 15 years at most.
• Water consent and a building permit cannot be issued for a building that discharges wastewater onto or into the ground or into water unless the project includes a treatment unit (Art. 141). A septic tank that simply overflows into the soil is therefore not enough.
• Building or operating without a required act can lead to a fine: 10,000 to 30,000 KM for a legal entity, 6,000 to 18,000 KM for a sole trader.

Who it applies to

Owners and users of houses, farm households, guesthouses and other accommodation not connected to a public sewer. For residential buildings and regular family activities connected to the public water supply and public sewer, water-law acts are not required (Art. 122), except for process water. For a hospitality business or a special activity, ask JU "Vode Srpske".

What to do

1. Check whether there is a public sewer at your address. If there is, connect to it.
2. If not, choose a solution that fits the number of users. The 2001 rulebook prescribes three types (Art. 24): a septic tank for up to six users, an Emscher tank for more than six users, and a factory-made septic unit sized according to the manufacturer's instructions. The rulebook also calls the Emscher tank a "sabirna jama" (collecting tank), but it is not a closed tank that is only emptied: it has a settling chamber and a digestion chamber, and the clarified water flows on out of it. All three types must be watertight and vented, and placed where the emptying vehicle can reach them all year (Art. 25 and 26). Rainwater and surface water must not enter the tank (Art. 33).
3. Before building or rebuilding, check which water-law acts you need. They are needed when water from the building flows into soil or a watercourse, and the project must include a treatment unit (Art. 141). Water consent is not needed when the building discharges no wastewater, or hands it only to an operator that runs a wastewater collection and treatment system and holds its own water-law act (Rulebook on water-law acts, Art. 23). Ask JU "Vode Srpske" whether this covers your case, for example a closed tank emptied by the municipal utility.
4. The order is: water guidelines, then water consent on the design, then a water permit after construction. The same procedure for taking water is described in the article on water from a well, spring or river. Documents for each step:
   • Water guidelines (Art. 11): ID or registration decision, urban-technical conditions with an expert opinion, earlier water-law acts when you rebuild or add to an existing building, proof of payment of the administrative fee.
   • Water consent (Art. 18): ID or registration decision, the decision on water guidelines if they were issued, location conditions, the main design with proof of technical review, proof of payment of the fee.
   • Water permit (Art. 25): ID or registration decision, the reviewed design if no water consent was issued, an as-built design if the building differs from the design, the building permit, proof of payment of the fee.
   • For a wastewater permit (Art. 26) also: a report from an authorised legal entity on the quantity and quality of the wastewater, a test certificate showing the efficiency the treatment unit achieves, and a report on the yearly quantities discharged and the discharge schedule.
5. Sign an emptying contract and keep the receipts. The 2001 rulebook was made under the earlier water law. The current Law on Waters (Art. 230) keeps such regulations in force until new ones are adopted, and JU "Vode Srpske" still lists it among its regulations. Ask your municipality how it applies it. The rulebook requires septic and Emscher tanks to be cleaned every six months, which means at least twice in each calendar year (Art. 12). Each cleaning is recorded: place, date, vehicle, quantity and signatures. If you clean your own tank, you keep your own record and send a copy to the municipality twice a year (Art. 13). The sludge is pumped out and taken to a disposal site set aside for it, in a vehicle with a closed tank that must not leak (Art. 11 and 14).
6. Before you choose a site, ask the municipality whether a sanitary protection zone for a water source has been set nearby.

Source protection zones

The municipal or city assembly sets zones for water sources by a decision on source protection (Law on Waters, Art. 75). The 2016 rulebook has three zones.

• Narrow protection zone (groundwater flow time up to 90 days): no tourist buildings, camping sites or fishponds. Farm buildings and workshops are not allowed either, except small plants that use no hazardous substances and hold water consent or a permit from JU "Vode Srpske". A sewer collector may be built only if it is watertight. Everything banned in the wider zone is banned here too.
• Wider protection zone (up to 180 days): letting wastewater into the soil is banned, and so is building settlements and holiday resorts, unless all wastewater is carried out of the zone by a watertight sewer. Emptying septic tankers is also banned.
• Immediate protection zone: fenced, and any activity not connected with water supply is banned there.

If your plot lies in such a zone, a septic tank with an overflow into the soil is not allowed. The same goes for new buildings without watertight drainage out of the zone.

Deadlines and amounts

• Water consent lapses after one year unless a building permit was obtained and work started within that year (Law on Waters, Art. 140).
• A water permit is valid for 15 years at most and cannot be transferred to another user (Art. 146).
• Fines for building without a water-law act: legal entity 10,000 to 30,000 KM, responsible person 2,000 to 6,000 KM, sole trader 6,000 to 18,000 KM (Art. 210).
• The administrative fee is paid under the Law on Administrative Fees of Republika Srpska. JU "Vode Srpske" sets the site-visit cost in a separate price list, depending on distance (Rulebook, Art. 28). Ask the Trebinje office for the exact amounts.

Where to go

• JU "Vode Srpske", Sektor za upravljanje vodama oblasnim riječnim slivom Trebišnjice (Trebišnjica river basin office), Srpska 2, 89101 Trebinje, tel. +387 59 245 510, e-mail trebinje@voders.org. Ask here whether your building needs a water-law act and which one.
• Your municipality, department for spatial planning and communal affairs: location conditions, source zones, who empties tanks in your area.
• JU "Vode Srpske" is responsible for business premises, including hospitality and tourism. The municipality is responsible for residential buildings up to 1,000 m2 gross area (Rulebook on water-law acts, Art. 5 and 6).

Laws and sources

• Law on Waters (Službeni glasnik RS no. 50/06, 92/09, 121/12 and 74/17), Art. 57, 58, 75, 122, 139 to 146, 210, 230 (the linked text is the 2006 base text; the 2009, 2012 and 2017 amendments do not change the rules or amounts cited here)
• Rulebook on water-law acts (Službeni glasnik RS no. 54/25)
• Rulebook on protection measures and marking of sanitary protection zones (Službeni glasnik RS no. 76/16), Art. 8 and 9
• Rulebook on treatment and drainage of wastewater where there is no public sewer (Službeni glasnik RS no. 68/01), Art. 11 to 14, 24 to 26, 33
• Regulations published by JU "Vode Srpske"