Residents have been struggling with low water pressure, intermittent outages, and cloudy water for about ten years, and the infrastructure is not keeping up with the rapid apartment development on the island.
On the island of Čiovo, connected by a bridge to Trogir, the same scenario plays out daily during the peak tourist season: bathers return from the beaches, step into the shower, and the water starts to drip or doesn't come at all. The problem is most pronounced between 6 and 9 PM, when consumption spikes and pressure in the pipes drops.
According to residents, this is not a new situation. They have been dealing with low pressure and intermittent outages for about ten years, not only in summer but also during the winter months. While Čiovo is being intensively built up and turned into apartment rentals, the water and sewage infrastructure is not keeping pace with the growing number of houses and users.
Čiovo has about 8,000 permanent residents spread across six settlements: Okrug Gornji, Okrug Donji, Arbanija, Mastrinka, Žedno, and Slatine. The administrative structure covers the areas of the Municipality of Okrug, the City of Trogir, and the City of Split. In summer, the number of people on the island multiplies due to tourists and guests in apartments.
On the southern side, in the Municipality of Okrug, investments have been made in recent years in the water and sewage network. On the northern side, where Mastrinka, Arbanija, and Slatine are located, the problems remain significant.
"The problem has been going on for a month now, and it's most noticeable in the Mastrinka and Žedno area. They tell me there can also be issues in Miševac, and probably elsewhere. Almost every day between 6 and 9 PM, when people return from the beach and start showering, the water starts to flow very weakly or not at all. After that, when it comes back, it's muddy. The higher you are, or the higher the location, the bigger the problem. During the day and late in the evening, the water pressure is normal. It's simply that everything has been turned into apartments, and the infrastructure hasn't kept up with that development," a resident from the Mastrinka and Žedno area told N1 HR.
A resident from Slatine confirms that she has been facing the problem for about ten years. Since Čiovo is a hilly island, houses by the sea generally don't have major issues, but as you go higher up the hills, the pressure becomes weaker.
"As far as water pressure is concerned, the problem has been going on for at least ten years. What I notice is that, especially in the summer afternoons, the pressure is weaker the higher we are up the hill and the farther we are from the main road. It's not just about where the house is located, but also which floor you're on. I'm on the middle floor and still have somewhat decent pressure, but on the third floor, there's almost none. As for water cloudiness, that usually happens when they work on the pipes, but also after rain. Almost every time it rains, the water is terrible," the resident said.
What's particularly concerning is that the sewage system in that part of the island was only completed this year, and problems with the pipes have already appeared. A resident from Slatine describes how two weeks ago the entire settlement was closed off because the pipes, as she understood, were not properly made. The sewage system, by her estimate, was completed in June, less than two months ago.
"The sewage system was only built this year, and we're already having problems with the pipes and various interventions. Two weeks ago, they closed off the entire settlement because, as I understood, the pipes weren't made properly, and the sewage system was completed less than two months ago. I think it was finished in June. They even completely shut off the water hydrant, which means they'll have to dig again. I don't know what will happen with the water, but the situation is really catastrophic. As soon as the weather is a bit bad, it rains, or there's a storm, the water gets cloudy. As for pressure, I haven't installed a pump because I don't even know where it would make sense to connect it. We're still on a septic tank, so it's all quite improvised. And given how much construction is constantly going on, it's hard to expect the situation to improve on its own," she added.
The entire island, regardless of the administrative boundaries between Trogir, Split, and the Municipality of Okrug, has the same public water utility provider, Vodovod i kanalizacija Split. Certain parts of the island are connected to different branches of the water supply system.
According to Index.hr, they asked ViK for an explanation about whether there have been problems with low pressure and supply interruptions in the past month, whether the current network can handle the summer increase in consumption, and what investments are underway in that part of the system. They did not receive a response by the time the article was published.
Although Čiovo has been increasingly built up in recent years and attracts more people in the summer, some residents still face daily water-related problems. Low pressure, occasional outages, and cloudy water are not just a summer phenomenon, and a permanent solution is still not available.
