Bosnia and Herzegovina, commonly known as Bosnia, is characterized by a complex governance structure. It consists of two autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS). The FBiH covers 51% of BiH’s total area, while RS covers 49%. These entities were established by the Dayton Agreement in 1995, following the Bosnian War and considering the country’s complex ethnic structure. A special self-governing administrative unit, Brcko District, was created in 2000 to reflect the multi-ethnic nature of Brcko and its surrounding. The general government sector is therefore divided into four levels: the BiH Council of Ministers, the Government of the FBiH, the Government of RS, and the Government of Brcko District.
The next level of administrative division in Bosnia is cantons, unique to the FBiH. Ten cantons have their own cantonal government and laws, and each canton consists of several municipalities.
Municipalities are the last level of administrative division in the country, 79 of them belonging to FBiH and 64 to RS. Many public services including water and wastewater services are provided at the local level. However, poor cooperation between various governments and organizations means that public services are usually not delivered in the most effective way.
Besides entities, one district, cantons, and municipalities, BiH also has four official cities – Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka, and East Sarajevo.
Country Overview | Year | |
---|---|---|
Population | 2021 | 3,270,943 |
Country Area (km2) | 2021 | 51,210 |
GDP (billion USD) | 2021 | 23.37 |
GDP per capita (USD) | 2021 | 7,143.3 |
World Bank Income Group | 2022 | Upper-middle Income |
World Bank Region | 2022 | Europe & Central Asia |
Water and Wastewater Sector Structure
The water and wastewater sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina is highly fragmented, due to the country’s complex legislative framework that implies separate constitutions and governments, different governing bodies, laws, and policies. In addition, there is a lack of clarity with regard to roles and responsibilities as well as multiple overlaps between different pieces of legislation. According to the existing legislation the key competencies for water services in BiH are distributed among the four different governing levels: BiH level, entity level, cantonal level (in FBiH), and municipal level. In the area of Brcko District, drinking water supply and wastewater services are provided by a public utility company founded by Brcko District.
Water utilities are generally established as independent corporations under direct ownership of local governments, which include cities and municipalities. There are 120 water utilities serving 16,000 people on average. The sector is however dominated by six large water utilities in the cities of Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Prijedor, Bijeljina, and Mostar. As independent companies, water utilities have institutional autonomy but rely on supervision boards and management staff which are usually appointed by the local governments, often politically motivated and without appropriate qualifications. Most utilities do not have financial autonomy since the tariffs are not set following cost-recovery principles but are mostly determined by social and political reasons.
The percentage of the population with access to the public water supply is 60% and 48% in FBiH and RS, respectively. Wastewater services are available to 22% of the whole country’s population. These numbers witness that access to public water and wastewater services is low, especially compared to regional standards.
Authority | Level | Role |
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Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations | National | The Department of water resources cooperates with both entities’ relevant institutions and contributes to better management and use of water resources in the country. |
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry | Entity – FBiH | Responsible for water policies in the Federation BiH. It has legislative competence in the water sector and supervises the implementation of laws concerning the water sector. |
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management | Entity – RS | Responsible for water policies in the RS. It has legislative competence in the water sector and supervises the implementation of laws concerning the water sector. |
Federal Ministry of Physical Planning | Entity – FBiH | Responsible for spatial planning and land use at FBiH level, including water and wastewater infrastructure. |
Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology | Entity – RS | Responsible for supervising and monitoring activities related to public communal services, including drinking water and wastewater collection and treatment. |
Ministry of Environment and Tourism | Entity – FBiH | Responsible for supervising and monitoring activities related to local public services, including drinking water and wastewater collection and treatment. |
Water agencies (Sava River Watershed Agency and Adriatic Sea Watershed Agency) | Entity – FBiH | Organize hydrological monitoring and water quality monitoring, monitoring of the ecological status of surface waters, and monitoring of groundwater quality, among other tasks. |
Institute of Public Health | Entity | In their respective entities, responsible for monitoring drinking water quality. |
Cantonal ministries | Canton – FBiH | Responsible for tariff supervision in the FBiH, as well as for administrative supervision of communal activities and water management at the local level. |
Municipalities | Municipal – RS | Responsible for tariff supervision in the RS. |
Local governments | Municipal | In both FBiH and RS, responsible for the provision of water and wastewater services through publicly owned water utilities. |
There is no independent economic regulator for water utilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In both entities, local governments are responsible for tariff setting, and cantonal governments supervise the tariffs in the FBiH. Tariffs are commonly not set at the financially appropriate level by following the cost-recovery principle, often due to social and political reasons.
As of 2021, both FBiH and RS have started the reform for the modernization of the water services sector which includes the establishment of regulatory bodies at the entity or cantonal level, as well as the development of tariff-setting methodology.
Water and Wastewater Regulations
Legislation and Policies | Year | Description |
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Water Law | 2006 | States that water management is the responsibility of BiH, the Federation, the canton, the city, and the municipality. It was adopted in both FBiH and RS; entity laws regulate issues regarding public water supply systems, from water quality, and protection of sources to reporting on delivered quantities. |
FBiH – Law on Health Protection | 2010 | It determines, among other provisions, the planning and implementation of cantonal programs for preserving and protecting health from polluted environments and performing systematic tests of drinking and water for consumption or recreational purposes. |
RS – Law on Health Protection | 2009 | Defines activities of the Institute for Public Health, including water quality testing. |
FBiH – Law on Public Enterprises | 2005 | Regulates methods of managing and operating public enterprises, including water utilities. A public enterprise is defined as an enterprise employing at least 50 employees that carry out activities of public interest, and in which municipality, city, canton, or federation of BIH is the owner of at least 50% plus one share. |
RS – Law on Public Enterprises | 2005 | Regulates methods of managing and operating public enterprises, including water utilities. Decrees of this law are applied to enterprises where RS or their self-governance is the owner of at least 50% plus one share, and where there are more than 50 employees. |
The law on principles of local self-government in FBiH | 2006 | Defines competencies of self-government local units including management, financing, and improvement of the operations and facilities of the local public infrastructures for water supply, wastewater disposal, treatment, etc. |
The law on local self-governance of RS | 2004 | Defines competencies of municipalities including production and delivery of water and related activities. |
Coming Soon
Utility | Date | Tariff |
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a.d. GRADIŠKA | October 2022 | Tariff |
A more complete list of Tariffs can be found at IBNET Tariff Database - Bosnia and Herzegovina