For decades, Dragan Bošnjak – a farmer and convenience store owner in the village of Slavićka near Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina – lived without a reliable water supply. Like many people in rural areas around the city, his community depended on improvised systems such as wells and water tanks. These could not ensure a steady flow of water or provide proper quality checks, leaving households without a dependable source of safe drinking water. This long-standing problem is now being addressed through major investment in Banja Luka’s water infrastructure, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Union. A €10 million loan from the EBRD, combined with a €4 million EU grant, is financing the expansion of the city’s water network.
Once completed, the project will deliver clean drinking water to thousands of households in Banja Luka and the surrounding rural communities. Work on the project began in 2019 and is now nearing completion. Over three phases, the city has installed 65 kilometres of new pipelines and built twelve new pumping stations. The aim is to ensure that more residents, particularly those in remote areas, have access to safe and reliable water. The improved infrastructure will also enhance sanitation and help reduce the spread of water-borne diseases.
For Dragan and his neighbours, the impact is transformative. Most families in Slavićka depend on farming, growing vegetables and raising livestock. A steady water supply will simplify daily tasks, reduce uncertainty and improve living conditions. Dragan explains that lacking a proper water connection made people feel isolated and affected nearly every aspect of their work and home life. With the new infrastructure, he says, the community finally feels hopeful about the future. He is one of 17,000 new users who will be connected to the upgraded system. Once the project is fully delivered, the coverage of Banja Luka’s water network will increase from about 80 per cent to 95 per cent of the population.
Along with expanding access, the project will help the city’s water utility reduce losses, improve efficiency and deliver better service quality. It is part of a broader long-term effort to modernise Banja Luka’s water and wastewater systems, ensuring cleaner water and helping address ongoing waste management challenges. The investment in Banja Luka is one element of a much wider effort led by the EBRD to improve water infrastructure across Bosnia and Herzegovina. Similar initiatives are under way in Sarajevo, Gradačac and Brčko, many of them supported through the EBRD Green Cities programme, which focuses on environmental improvements, sustainability and municipal infrastructure development.
According to Stela Melnic, the EBRD’s Head of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bank has been supporting cities across the country in upgrading essential services, including transport, heating and water systems. She emphasises that these projects not only improve daily life for residents but also bring significant environmental benefits. As clean, reliable water reaches homes across Banja Luka, the project is doing more than improving basic services. For families like Dragan’s, it marks the beginning of a more secure, healthier and hopeful future. And as the project’s success becomes visible, it provides a model for other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, demonstrating how targeted investment and international support can drive meaningful change.
