The 'Gospić Is Our Home' initiative has sharply reacted to HZJZ claims about water safety, while Prime Minister Plenković says there is no room for hysteria and announces accelerated remediation of 37,000 tons of waste.
The conflict between official institutions and the residents of Gospić over the illegal hazardous waste dump escalated on Wednesday after the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, stated that drinking water from Lika's water supply systems is completely health-safe. The 'Gospić Is Our Home' initiative responded fiercely, accusing Capak of not having read the key expert reports and claiming that measurements were taken at the wrong locations.
In their statement, which was fully reported by Jutarnji list, the citizens' initiative highlighted that the tests conducted by the J. J. Strossmayer Institute for Water did indeed show that the groundwater is of good quality, but the problem lies in the methodology. "For example, the Institute measured at the wrong place, upstream!" the initiative stated, adding that the expert report by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) found the opposite condition.
They particularly warned about findings indicating the transfer of heavy metals into the food chain. Citing the expert report, they noted that dandelions show hyperaccumulation properties for antimony, zinc, molybdenum, and mercury. "This proves the transfer of increased concentrations of heavy metals from the soil into plants and further into the food web," their statement reads. As the most alarming piece of data, they highlighted that the amount of antimony in the eluate from one waste sample exceeded the maximum permissible values by as much as 700 times.
The initiative also pointed out a chronology of failures. The last monitoring of the water source showing the presence of heavy metals dates back to October 2025, while measurements for PFAS substances are five months old. "These are all regular measurements that have not yet taken this situation into account," they told Capak, who has only now announced the introduction of monitoring for all elements identified in the expert report.
Additionally, the residents noted that they have not received any response from institutions to their letters sent a year and a half ago. They signed their statement with a touch of irony as "Hysterical Citizens," alluding to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's recent remarks calling the whole situation an attempt to create hysteria.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Plenković tweeted that the government is approaching the waste situation in Gospić seriously and responsibly. "We will accelerate the remediation process for a total of 37,000 tons of waste. All those who committed criminal acts will be held accountable, and the state will also seek financial compensation for the remediation," Plenković wrote, adding that according to HZJZ measurements, there is no threat to drinking water in Lika.
When directly asked by a journalist whether he would drink tap water in Lika, Plenković briefly replied: "Yes, I would!" Meanwhile, reporters from Nova TV's Dnevnik reported that some residents of Gospić, who live just a hundred meters from the dump, have been buying bottled water for the second consecutive year because they do not trust official assessments.
To ease public concern, HZJZ has announced that it will test the water every three to four days and regularly publish the results. The Prime Minister also promised a visit to Lika, but the exact date has not yet been confirmed. A meeting of the inner cabinet and the coalition was also held, where, according to Plenković, it was concluded that the criminal proceedings are ongoing, the remediation is being accelerated, and the coalition remains stable.
While institutions call for calm and trust in expertise, the residents of Gospić remain steadfast in their doubts, backed by data from expert reports that they claim the authorities have not thoroughly examined.
