4. Conclusion
The surface waters in the Republic of Macedonia are seriously endangered by different sources of
pollution, but as major sources are the urban wastewaters and the wastewaters from the industry and
mining. Most urban settlements and industrial capacities directly discharge their wastewaters in the rivers
without treatment, which leads to their pollution especially in the densely populated areas. Some rivers
are turned into collectors for wastewater that emanates from the discharges of the major pollutants. The
quality of the water in the rivers Vardar, Crna River and Bregalnica, after the collection of the wastewater
from the households and the industries from the bigger cities through which they flow is below the
stipulated national standards. The trend for lowering of the pollution in recent years is positive, but
unfortunately this trend is a result of the lowered intensity of industrial activity in our country. A small
advance has been made in the treatment of the urban wastewaters in the past few years in the Republic of
Macedonia. There is a secondary treatment for the urban wastewaters in just a few cities in Macedonia,
but the current treatment facilities cover only 10-12% of the need for treatment. A small amount of
treatment facilities have been built for treating the industrial wastewaters, and most of them have
technologies only for a mechanical treatment. A small number of these treatment facilities have
technologies for mechanical and chemical (or biological) treatment of the industrial wastewaters. Some of these facilities are out of order because of defects, lack of spare parts, or just because their regular maintenance is very expensive. Although the condition with the quality of the surface waters in some regions is substandard, in the Republic of Macedonia appropriate measures are being undertaken to reduce and even prevent the pollution of the waters, with which a better ecological status or potential of the waters would be achieved.