Towards sustainable wastewater management in Bosnia and Herzegovina: insights from Sweden

Bosnia and Herzegovina faces a significant investment gap of EUR 3.5 billion to meet EU wastewater standards, with only 20 operating treatment plants. The report compares the fragmented institutional landscape of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Sweden's more integrated approach, highlighting the role of trade organizations like Svenskt Vatten and inter-municipal collaborations like NSVA. It suggests that Bosnia and Herzegovina can 'leapfrog' traditional centralized systems by adopting circular resource recovery principles for water, nutrients, and energy, and by tailoring solutions to the specific scale of urban and rural agglomerations.

• Bosnia and Herzegovina requires an estimated investment of EUR 3.5 billion to meet EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) requirements, which represents nearly 15% of its 2024 GDP of EUR 24.6 billion.
• Current wastewater infrastructure in Bosnia and Herzegovina is insufficient and poorly maintained, with only 20 operating plants, many of which operate below design capacity and struggle with sludge disposal and spare part procurement.
• The 2024 Master Plan for the delineation of agglomerations in Bosnia and Herzegovina identifies 338 agglomerations requiring wastewater services, proposing a strategy of one wastewater treatment plant per agglomeration.
• Sweden utilizes a strict polluter-pays principle where wastewater costs are borne by users through tariffs and connection fees, with no state or municipal subsidies for these systems.
• Swedish trade organizations and knowledge platforms, such as Svenskt Vatten, VA-guiden, and Avloppsguiden, provide critical standardized guidance, training, and benchmarking that reduce transaction costs for municipalities.
• Inter-municipal collaboration, exemplified by the Nordvästra Skånes Vatten och Avlopp (NSVA) in Sweden, allows for more cost-effective planning and the ability to sustain necessary technical expertise.
• While technically feasible, inter-municipal and cross-entity collaboration in Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently hindered by political and organizational barriers, particularly across entity and cantonal borders.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina has the opportunity to 'leapfrog' traditional linear wastewater models by integrating circular resource recovery for water, nutrients, and energy into new infrastructure.
• Sweden has implemented advanced resource recovery and certification schemes, such as REVAQ for sludge quality, which increased the use of sludge on arable land from 7% in 2002 to over 50% in 2022.

APA

Rudberg, P. M., Džajić-Valjevac, M., Ddiba, D., Dagerskog, L., Andersson, K., & Cherni, S. (2026). Towards sustainable wastewater management in Bosnia and Herzegovina: insights from Sweden. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/bih-wastewater-sei2026-015.pdf

Chicago

Rudberg, Peter M., Melina Džajić-Valjevac, Daniel Ddiba, Linus Dagerskog, Kim Andersson, and Salwa Cherni. Towards sustainable wastewater management in Bosnia and Herzegovina: insights from Sweden. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2026. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/bih-wastewater-sei2026-015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rudberg |first1=Peter M. |last2=Džajić-Valjevac |first2=Melina |last3=Ddiba |first3=Daniel |last4=Dagerskog |first4=Linus |last5=Andersson |first5=Kim |last6=Cherni |first6=Salwa |title=Towards sustainable wastewater management in Bosnia and Herzegovina: insights from Sweden |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=June 2026 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/bih-wastewater-sei2026-015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rudberg2026towards, author = {Rudberg, Peter M. and Džajić-Valjevac, Melina and Ddiba, Daniel and Dagerskog, Linus and Andersson, Kim and Cherni, Salwa}, title = {{Towards sustainable wastewater management in Bosnia and Herzegovina: insights from Sweden}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/bih-wastewater-sei2026-015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }