Water Crime in the Republic of Slovenia

• Saša Kuhar ^[2] ; Gorazd Meško ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Maribor

     University of Maribor

     Eslovenia

     
  2. [2] Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration
• Localización: Water, Governance, and Crime Issues / Katja Eman (ed. lit.), Gorazd Mesko (ed. lit.), Lorenzo Segato (ed. lit.), Massimo Migliorini (ed. lit.), 2020, ISBN 9783030448004, págs. 157-176
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Water is a source of life. Due to its limited quantities, growing world population and its unique role for humanity, demands for water are increasing. In addition to sufficient amounts of water, its quality is also essential. The quantity and quality of water vary from country to country; the accessibility depends on the area and from the privatisation of water resources. Due to the geographical position, Slovenia has a wealth of natural resources. It is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but concerning water resources, it is one of the richest. Unfortunately, they are not spatially uniformly distributed. The regulation in the Republic of Slovenia is quite extensive. Water resource management in Slovenia is introduced by the Water Framework Directive, and as the first country adopted a human right to drinking water into a constitution. The water crimes phenomenon was analysed by the descriptive method, literature review, statistical data analysis and information received from the police. The study of statistics, reports, and documentation have shown that water crimes in Slovenia are not very frequently dealt by the formal social control agencies and the offences of water pollution prevail by 85%.In most cases, the object of the offence is drinking water and free water in nature, such as rivers, lakes, and ponds. Potential dangers for the water sector are pollution of groundwater, pollution of streams and rivers from factories, theft of water from the pipeline system. Privatisation of water resources to sell water, brew beer, and other purposes also seem to be a risk for the drinking water reserve because there are no limits in the exploitation of water springs. In most cases of water pollution, the perpetrators are unknown. The most significant difficulty presents a dark figure of crime against water because many cases are not detected and reported.