Although we might assume that the communist regimes had no environmental laws, this is not the case, according to former EPA official Dan Beardsley. It was all a sham. Moreover, even when the environment was monitored, measurement standards were not uniform across countries, so it is very difficult to make international comparisons. Albania, Montenegro, and Macedonia are likewise predominantly agrarian, while the heaviest industrialization is in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia. Because their main purpose under communism was to provide jobs rather than compete economically, Balkan factories are often extremely polluting and inefficient.
Important waterways take the brunt of the waste.
For example, the Vardar River flows through Macedonia south to the Aegean Sea near the Greek city of Thessaloniki. En route, it travels through Titov Veles, the most polluted city in Macedonia, whose 15 factories pump waste into the river. Before it reaches the sea, the Vardar is used as irrigation water in Greek fields. It's more akin to the way the U.S. was 30 years ago. The problems may appear to be more intense in the Balkans because environmental degradation has continued there, while pollution elsewhere in the region has declined due to increased prosperity and improved regulation.