With the expansion and increasing importance of municipal services in the city, the plenary session of GNOO Herceg-Novi decided on January 30, 1947, to establish the Supervisory Board for Municipal Works within the Economic Department. The board consisted of Frano Trani, Dušan Ćirković, and Sekule Gudelj as its commissioners. One of the board’s tasks was the “maintenance of the city’s water supply system.” However, on March 20, 1948, GNOO Herceg-Novi decided to establish a Local Economic Enterprise to take over all municipal services from the municipality, including the city’s water supply system. Aleksandar Leso Doklestić (1904–1994) from Herceg-Novi was appointed as the director of the enterprise.
At a session held on February 27, 1950, the GNOO Herceg-Novi plenary decided to establish the City Municipal Enterprise. As of January 1, 1950, Frano-Lilo Trani was appointed director of the enterprise, as Aleksandar Leso Doklestić had retired.
During a session held on February 18, 1953, GNOO Herceg-Novi decided to dissolve the City Municipal Enterprise and establish the Institution for Municipal Affairs as an independently financed enterprise. Due to the growing need for water supply in Herceg-Novi, the Assembly of NOO Herceg-Novi decided on July 16, 1953, to build a water supply system from the “Lovac” spring in the village of Mojdež.
Once the construction of the Mojdež water supply system was completed, the conditions were met to establish a dedicated company that would focus exclusively on water supply and sewage management in the city. For this reason, the Municipality Assembly of Herceg-Novi, at a session held on July 5, 1955, decided to separate the water supply system from the jurisdiction of the Municipal Utility Company Herceg-Novi. On August 6, 1955, a resolution was passed to establish the Water Supply and Sewerage Company Herceg-Novi. Nikola-Niko Lipovac (1922–2001) from Meljine was appointed as the director of the newly founded company. On February 22, 1963, the Council of Producers of NOO Herceg-Novi decided to merge the Water Supply and Sewerage Company back into the Municipal Utility Company. At a municipal council session held on March 29, a decision was made to dismiss the founder and long-time director of the Municipal Utility Company, Frano Trani, and to appoint Nikola-Niko Lipovac as the director of the unified companies. However, on May 18 of the same year, another leadership change took place, and Čaba Mađar was appointed as the new director of the Municipal Utility Company.
Dipl. Eng. Alija Kurtagić (later Dipl. Eng. Branko Lučić) was appointed as the head of the “Water Supply and Sewerage” work unit, with technician Mitro Gugolja (later Špiro Vukasović). External collaboration on water supply planning was provided by Dipl. Eng. Danilo Maić from Split.
With the commissioning of the Opačica pumping station, the former military water supply pumping stations in Zelenika and Bijela were decommissioned. Simultaneously, the city’s water supply network in the Old Town was reconstructed. A distribution network was built in Savina, Topla, and Igalo, followed shortly by a water supply system in Njivice. All consumer connections were equipped with water meters, eliminating flat-rate billing for water consumption. To ensure the accuracy of water meters, a calibration laboratory was installed in the former pumping station building in Zelenika. Water meters were regularly inspected and adjusted every two to three years under the supervision of Jože Marić. New reservoirs were constructed: a 300 m³ reservoir in Tatar Bašta (Igalo) and a 200 m³ reservoir in Savina. Additionally, 2,500 meters of new 150 mm city water supply pipelines were installed. An investment program worth 69 million dinars for the second phase of the Opačica – Herceg-Novi water supply system was also included in the Investment Bank’s plans in Titograd.
The proposal by director Čaba Mađar to secure water supply for Herceg-Novi from HE Plat was supported by municipal president Petar Stijepčić (1922–1991) during the municipal council session on August 21, 1967. The sessions concluded that the most favorable long-term solution for Herceg-Novi was the construction of a regional water supply system from HE Plat, based on a conceptual design by Eng. Danilo Maić. The conceptual project for a temporary water supply solution from the Ljuta spring was sent to the Municipality of Dubrovnik for approval, and director Čaba Mađar had already held preliminary discussions with Marko Anđelić, Dipl. Eng. Agronomy, and director of the Agrum Agricultural Combine in Grude, which had jurisdiction over the Ljuta spring. During the municipal council sessions, president Petar Stijepčić stated:
“There is hardly any proper sewage network in Herceg-Novi, yet the issue of its urgent resolution remains ever-present.”
By that time, the Municipal Utility Company had already developed the Main Project for the Igalo-Herceg Novi-Meljine sewage system, designed by Eng. Danilo Maić as an external consultant. The project included primary and secondary collectors running beneath the coastline along the former railway route (the railway was decommissioned in 1966).
The project was divided into two construction phases:
Igalo-Topla-Herceg-Novi-Western Savina, with a standardized pumping station near the Novosadsko Odmaralište (Novi Sad Resort) in Igalo, discharging 250 meters offshore and 16 meters deep near the Forte Mare fortress in Herceg-Novi.
Meljine-Military Hospital-Eastern Savina, with a standardized pumping station near the former “Military Spa”.
The sewage system was designed to handle 154 liters per second of wastewater, meeting the needs of the city and surrounding suburban areas for a population of 30,000—which aligns with the city’s present-day requirements. At municipal council sessions on August 28, 1972, the Herceg-Novi city sewage system construction was incorporated into the municipality’s social development plan, initiating the first phase of construction. In July 1968, after the term of director Čaba Mađar ended, Dipl. Eng. Vladimir-Vlado Porobić was appointed as the new acting director. A Slovenian-manufactured electronic detector “Elektron” was purchased for underground network surveying and fault detection, with water installer Dragan Palikuća trained to operate it.
In early 1977, the Communal Work Organization (KRO) established several Basic Organizations of Associated Labor, including OOUR “Water Supply and Sewerage”, led by Dipl. Economist Đuro Ćetković. The general director of the Communal Work Organization remained Sergije-Srđe Dabović.
By 1976, the main sewage collector from Igalo to Savina was completed. According to an Executive Committee report covering October 1979 – April 1982, the secondary sewage network for Igalo and Topla was also constructed.
Regarding the information on water supply presented to the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi at the session on July 8, 1998, it was noted in point 16 of the conclusions:
“Estimated losses in the network, for various reasons, amount to 120-150% above the billed water quantity, which significantly impacts the available water quantities and costs…”
The accumulated problems in municipal services, particularly the strained water supply, forced the municipal assembly to re-examine the organizational state of the Public Utility Company. Considering these issues, at the 2nd regular session of the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi, held on July 28, 1998, the following conclusion was made in point 17:
“The current organization of the Public Utility Company has shown many conceptual and internal weaknesses and disagreements, and therefore, immediate steps should be taken to prepare for the transition of this company by separating it into three separate companies: one for water supply and sewerage, one for cleanliness, and a third for all other activities related to the Public Utility Company.”
The decision to transition the Public Utility Company into three separate entities was made at the 7th regular session of the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi, held on June 17, 1999. By the decision of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, document number 01-6/61 from June 29, 1999, Zoran Bošnjak, a Dipl. Mechanical Engineer, was appointed as the acting director of the newly established company Public Utility Company Water Supply and Sewerage on July 1, 1999, with the municipal assembly officially verifying his appointment at the 2nd session held on July 31, 1999.
On July 31, 2000, the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi appointed Zoran Šabanović, a Dipl. Mechanical Engineer, as the acting director of Public Utility Company Water Supply and Sewerage Herceg Novi at the 2nd regular session. With the decision from the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi, document number 01-3/1/1/3-00 from December 12, 2000, Zoran Šabanović was officially appointed as the director of the company. Public Utility Company Water Supply and Sewerage participated in the development of the Master Plan for Wastewater Treatment for coastal municipalities and Cetinje to secure credit funds for these works from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, focusing on the realization of the main collector along the coast, as well as the implementation of the wastewater collector for the Kutsku Field.
In order to facilitate the realization of the water supply and wastewater management development programs for the municipality of Herceg Novi, and to assist in utilizing external financial resources for these programs, at the 5th regular session of the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi, held on November 25, 2004, the decision was made to enter into an agreement for the establishment of a joint association and coordination company for water supply and wastewater management for the Montenegrin coastline and Cetinje, named VODAKOM D.O.O., headquartered in Kotor.
Director
Mr. Boro Lučić, serving as the Executive Director since December 2022, appointed by the decision of the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi and with the approval of the Board of Directors of DOO “Vodovod i kanalizacija” regarding the selection of the Executive Director.