POMURSKA - Environment
Agriculture a major pollutor
Pomurska is densely populated in parts and intensively cultivated, which makes agriculture a major source of pollution in the region. Since there is plenty of air movement above the open plains, emissions of harmful substances rarely exceed the legal values. However, intensive agriculture causes high levels of pollution in the groundwater deposits in gravel sediments on both sides of the Mura river which are the only source of drinking water in the region. Especially serious are high and still increasing levels of nitrates and chlorinated organic solvents.
Rivers are also considerably polluted in Pomurska. The Mura is already polluted when it enters Slovenia from Austria. This poses a serious threat to flood-plain forests along the river, where there is a wide range of biodiversity. The most polluted are small rivers such as the Ledava and
Šcavnica, which receive municipal waste water and waste water from livestock farms. Conditions are not improving since it is only in several of the larger towns that sewage is treated by municipal treatment plants (33.1% of the population is connected to public sewerage and other 26.4% of the population has septic tanks which are emptied to the public sewerage by trucks).
Virtually all settlements in the plains are connected to municipal water supply systems, while in the hilly areas of Goricko and Slovenske gorice wells are also used (82% of the population is connected to public water supply system). 4% of total industrial waste in Slovenia and 6% of total municipal waste in Slovenia were generated in Pomurska region, which is 366 kg of municipal waste per person per year. Pomurska region has three municipal waste landfills where most municipal waste in the region was disposed of, while 64% of industrial waste was recovered.
Almost all households are connected to the national electricity network. The majority of industry in Murska Sobota, Lendava, Gornja Radgona and Ljutomer, as well as an increasing number of households, are connected to the natural gas network.
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