Images of dead fish along the shores of Tirana’s Artificial Lake are being accompanied by even more serious findings in official documents. An audit by the State Supreme Audit presents a troubling picture: discharges of polluted water, a lack of regular monitoring, uncertainty over businesses operating in the area, and thousands of public lek spent on a cleanup that appears to have addressed only the surface of the problem.
KLSH report: lake faces untreated pollution
According to the KLSH audit, untreated urban wastewater is being discharged into the lake’s water body. The document notes that, despite the critical environmental condition, the Municipality of Tirana and the institutions under its authority have not taken concrete steps to identify polluters and stop the discharges.
The report also raises concern that the lack of institutional coordination has remained largely at the level of written correspondence, while the ecological situation risks deteriorating further.
Experts describe a “sick” lake
In consultations included in the audit with experts and academics from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the lake is described as degraded and problematic even for its users.
According to KLSH, observations led to the conclusion that this is a bloom of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. The report stresses that toxins are released during cell decomposition and may have serious consequences for aquatic life as well as for humans. The mass death of fish and their surfacing, according to the same report, is linked to a lack of oxygen and the high presence of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
More than 10.6 million lek for cleaning, but not for stopping pollution
Documents cited in the report show that during the 2021–2024 period, the Agency of Parks and Recreation, under the Municipality of Tirana, spent 10,665,000 lek on cleaning the basin of the Artificial Lake.
But the audit notes that this was mainly mechanical cleaning: removing plastics from the surface and clearing excessive vegetation. The core problem, the reduction or elimination of pollution sources in the water, according to the report, has remained unaddressed.
Uncertainty over businesses and lack of a sewer network
Another problem emerging from the audit is the conflicting data on private entities operating within the Lake Park. According to contracts with UKT, 10 private entities are operating. According to APR’s responses, the number is 14. Meanwhile, field checks by the audit group found more than 14 entities.
In the absence of a sewer network within the territory of the artificial lake, these entities operate with individual solutions, such as septic pits, which according to the audit remain unmonitored by state institutions.
No management plan and no annual monitoring
KLSH concludes that the Municipality of Tirana, in its role as administrator, has not drafted a management plan for Tirana’s Artificial Lake. According to the report, there is no clear scheme for the division of duties and interaction between central and local institutions, aimed at verifying and stopping the discharge of urban or industrial wastewater.
The issue of monitoring is presented as equally problematic. Although Tirana’s Artificial Lake has been designated for annual monitoring in the National Environmental Monitoring Program, the audit says that for the 2021–2024 period, and at a minimum since 2015, the National Environment Agency has not carried out any annual monitoring for this water body.
The lack of an institutional response in the face of a situation now documented even in the audit strengthens suspicions that the problem has been allowed to drag on while the lake continues to degrade.
The Municipality of Tirana was asked for a reaction after the audit, but did not respond.