The sparkling emerald waters of the Shusica River in southern Albania are at risk because of a project that will divert part of its flow, campaigners have warned.
The country's hundreds of kilometers of pristine coastline are experiencing a construction boom fueled by tourism, and new sites need water - lots of water.
This sparked a struggle that echoes other disputes over intensive development in Albania. The country welcomes investment after decades of poverty caused by communist rule and its chaotic collapse.
Local residents oppose the rapid development, arguing that plans to divert water to developing areas threaten their own economic survival.
In southern Albania's Susica river valley, a number of villages have gathered to protest a new project to divert water from the area's river to a nearby waterfront complex.
"The battle for water is a battle for our children, for our future," Lulezim Bardi, a former resident of Bratai, one of the villages, told AFP after taking a sip of water from Shusitsa.
"This water is our life and we will continue the fight to protect the river," stressed Bardi.
A war of words
Nearby, hundreds of blue pipes are lined up at a construction site where work has been halted until an environmental impact assessment of the controversial project is completed.
If the project is resumed, the pipes will be used to build a 17-kilometer line to transfer water from one of its sources to the Ionian coast, where tourism is booming.
Local residents are calling on authorities to abandon the plan, first launched in 2019 and financed with a 9.5 million euro ($10.3 million) loan from German state bank KfW.
Bratai Sotir resident Zaho Aliaj said similar projects were considered in the past but never materialized.
"None of them were built because of the social, economic and environmental consequences," Aliaj said as he waved a large banner above the stone bridge in Bratai reading "Save our Shusica".
The 80-kilometer river is one of several tributaries of the larger Vjosa River, one of Europe's last unpolluted waterways, which the Albanian government last year granted national park status.
The classification guarantees the highest level of protection of the river and its tributaries.
"It is forbidden to divert river waters in the national park. Such a project... would affect not only biodiversity and the ecosystem, but also the local economy, which depends on the river," explained Bezana Guri of the environmental group EcoAlbania.
Albania's Environment Minister Mirela Kumbaro rejected the claims, noting that the project does not encroach on a protected area.
"The spring that will be used for the aqueduct in question is not within the national park," Cumbaro told AFP, defending the government's plans to increase investment in the country.
"The Albanian government does not hide its ambition to develop sustainable, elite tourism in harmony with the environment," she added.
"Blue Gold"
Despite the pledge, pressure from conservation groups on the government to take action is mounting.
This month, activists from across Albania and from neighboring Bosnia gathered at Bratai's stone bridge against the project.
Among the demonstrators were the "brave women of Kruščica", a group of activists from Bosnia who since 2017 have protested for 500 days to prevent the construction of small hydroelectric plants in their country.
“Taking away our water will destroy our future. It would be a disaster, the end of agriculture, the end of our livestock," said Iliya Bombay, one of the protesters.
"This is our fight for survival," she emphasized.
The protesters support the economic development of the country, but called on the government to look for more sustainable solutions.
Others claim that the Shusitsa river has been affected by climate change and in some parts of the region it has literally been reduced to a wada.
Albania has more than 150 rivers and streams and is rich in water, but poor management of the resources leads to frequent problems.
"Because of climate change, we have to prepare for all scenarios," said Ferdinand Bego, professor of natural sciences at the University of Tirana.
"The battle for the 'blue gold' is the main challenge of the new millennium," he warned. | BGNES
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