Obnova vodenog puta – suhozidna radionica na Zlarinu

Tekst: Roža Šuran
Foto: Roža Šuran, Ana Jadrijević

[English below]

Od 3. do 5. listopada 2025. članovi udruge DRAGODID boravili su na otoku Zlarinu, gdje su u suradnji s lokalnom udrugom Tatavaka proveli trodnevnu radionicu obnove dijela starog vodenog sustava – kanala koji prikuplja kišnicu i vodi je prema tradicionalnoj lokvi u središtu maslinika. U radionici nas je sudjelovalo 12, a zajedno s domaćinima smo radili na čišćenju, obnovi i ponovnom uspostavljanju funkcionalnosti sustava.

Kada netko prvi put posjeti Zlarin u listopadu, lako se prepustiti njegovoj mirnoći i ljepoti. Redovi ribarskih kuća čuvaju uvalu, a iza njih se blago uzdižu brežuljci obrasli maslinama i terasama. U selu nema buke – samo bicikli, barke i papamobili.

Sve se čini spokojnim, kao da ovdje vrijeme teče sporije, i usred te ljepote lako je zaboraviti koliko je truda i odricanja nekoć bilo potrebno za život na ovom otoku – za pribavljanje vode, uzgoj hrane, te samu egzistenciju. Lako je zaboraviti i na današnje borbe stanovnika Zlarina koji nastoje pronaći smislen i održiv način života na otoku koji sezonski preplavljuju turisti i novac.

Među njima je i udruga Tatavaka – skupina lokalnih entuzijasta koji su svjesni društvenih i okolišnih posljedica turizma te su odlučili zajednički djelovati. Njihovi se projekti bave raznim temama: od gospodarenja otpadom i smanjenja plastike, do očuvanja lokalne baštine i tradicijskog načina života. Upravo su nas oni pozvali da im pomognemo u posebnom projektu: obnovi kanala stare lokve u središtu zlarinskih maslinika.

Slične takve lokve nekada su bile sastavni dio tradicijske poljoprivrede – građene kako bi sakupljale i čuvale kišnicu iz vlažnih zimskih mjeseci te je zadržale za sušna ljeta, kad je ona najpotrebnija. Budući da je potporni zid same lokve bio obnovljen tijekom prijašnjih radionica, ovaj smo se put usredotočili na obnovu kanala koji vodi vodu niz padinu prema lokvi. Najprije je bilo potrebno temeljito ukloniti zaraslu vegetaciju kako bi se voda ponovno mogla neometano slijevati niz kanal. Nakon toga smo pregledali, očistili i pažljivo obnovili oštećene dijelove zidova. U isto vrijeme, jedna je skupina radila na ulazu u kanal, gdje smo izgradili kamene stepenice kako bi prilaz bio vidljiviji i pristupačniji planinarima i slučajnim prolaznicima. Za izradu stepenica bilo je potrebno pronaći kvalitetnije i veće kamenje, pa smo ga prikupljali u okolici i donosili na mjesto rada – posao koji je zahtijevao mnogo truda, ali je, gledajući konačan rezultat, itekako vrijedio. Rad je postao i lakši i veseliji kada su nam se pridružili lokalni volonteri, oni stariji i mlađi i pomogli svojim rukama i dobrom voljom.

Nakon svakog radnog dana okupljali smo se navečer – uz hranu, razgovor i veselje. Bilo da smo se družili u Centru koralja ili u domovima naših domaćina, uvijek smo bili dočekani toplinom i gostoljubivošću. Nažalost, kiša nas je u nedjelju prisilila da ranije prekinemo radove, pa nismo stigli završiti sve planirane aktivnosti. Ipak, zbog svega što smo doživjeli – iskustava koja smo stekli, ljudi koje smo upoznali i znanja koje smo dijelili – napustili smo Zlarin ispunjeni zahvalnošću i novim uvidima.

Restoring the Water Path – dry stone workshop on Zlarin

From October 3rd to 5th, 2025, members of the DRAGODID association stayed on the island of Zlarin, where, in collaboration with the local association Tatavaka, they conducted a three-day workshop to restore part of an old water system – a channel that collects rainwater and directs it to a traditional pond in the heart of the olive groves. Twelve of us participated in the workshop, and together with the local hosts, we worked on clearing, repairing, and restoring the system to full functionality.

When one visits Zlarin for the first time in October, one can easily be taken away by the sheer beauty and tranquility of the place: lines of fishermen houses are guarding the bay, gentle hills filled with olives and terraces are laying behind them, and in the village, nothing but bikes, boats and little carts. Everything seems calm, like time is moving a little bit slower here, and in the middle of all this beauty one can easily forget all the struggle and hardship people once had to endure on this island: to get their water, to grow their food, to make their living. And in the middle of all this beauty, one can also easily forget the struggle and the hardship of the people living here today, trying to find a meaningful way of life on this island which seasonally gets flooded by tourists and money.

Some of these people are the members of Tatavaka, a civil society association of locals, who see the social and environmental impacts of tourism on Zlarin and came together to do something about it. They organize projects to a wide variety of topics, reaching from waste management and plastic reduction to local heritage and its preservation. And its them, who invited us to help them with a special restoration project: The restoration of an old reiteration pond in the middle of the olive fields of Zlarin.

Those ponds were once commonly used and build in traditional agriculture, with the aim of collecting and storing the rain water of the wet winter months and keeping it available for the time, when its most needed by the plants: the dry summer months.

Since the structural wall of the pond was already finished during a prior workshops, we focused our attention now on the walls creating the canal, which leads the water down the hill and into the pond. First, extensive cleaning of vegetation was needed to allow a fluent flow of water down the canal. Afterwards, all the destroyed parts of the walls needed to be inspected, cleaned and carefully rebuilt. Simultaneously, one group was also working on the entrance of the canal, creating a little staircase at its beginning to make it more visible and appealing for hikers passing by. To create the staircase, better quality stones were needed, forcing us to harvest for stones in the surrounding environment and bringing them to the site – a lot of work, which, looking at the finished result, definitely paid off. Also, all the work became a lot easier, when multiple local people came by to lend a helping hand.

At the end of each workday, we would gather in the evenings – enjoying food, conversation, and good cheer. Whether we met at the Coral Center or in the homes of our hosts, we were always welcomed with warmth and hospitality. Unfortunately, on Sunday, rain forced us to cut the work short, and we were unable to complete all the planned activities. Nevertheless, because of everything we experienced – the knowledge we gained, the people we met, and the skills we shared – we left Zlarin filled with gratitude and new insights.