The traditional conference “Water and Sewage Systems” Jahorina 20 was not held last year due to the coronary virus pandemic. This year, for the same reasons, in the organization of the “Association for Water Technology and Sanitary Engineering – UTVSI” and the association “Vodovodi Republike Srpske” and in cooperation with the moderator’s prof. dr Jasmina Agbaba, PMF Novi Sad and prof. Dr. Dušan Prodanović, GRF Belgrade, an online conference was held. The conference was thematically divided into two parts. On the first day, there were lectures in the field of water quality, drinking water safety, and wastewater treatment. The second day was dedicated to lectures in the field of monitoring the condition of monitors in the water supply and sewerage sector and the introduction of GIS. Through presentations and discussion, the problems encountered in practice and significantly affect the management and maintenance of existing systems, design and construction of new ones, as well as the development of the sector, are highlighted, and these are:
lack of trained – professional staff, although many companies have a problem with overstaffing, there is an obvious lack of highly professional staff of engineers of all profiles, especially in the field of informatics;
insufficient attention paid to the operation and maintenance of the system, which should be taken into account from the design of the system and the choice of equipment;
additional investment in staff and knowledge is necessary – mandatory permanent training;
for the development and maintenance of the sector, greater and more transparent attention of the state is needed in the area of competencies, sustainable capital investment, and preparation of the necessary staff for the design, construction, and maintenance of such facilities.
