page_title: Ovča
section_title: Ovča Spa
hierarchical_section_title: Ovča / Sub-neighborhoods / Ovča Spa
caption_attribution_description: English: So called "Spa" in Ovča, near Belgrade, Serbia.
context_page_description: Ovča is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located to the northeast of the city, in the municipality of Palilula.
context_section_description: Hydrothermal spring of Ovčanska banja (Ovča spa) is located in the settlement. A pond with an area of 150 m² (1,600 sq ft) and 1 m (3 ft 3 in) deep has been filled by the natural salt water since the mid-1980s. The spa is not fully arranged for public usage but is very popular among the local population. Water is warm and salty and rich in minerals and sulfur. The healing mud is also used by the visitors. The surrounding canal, used for the melioration of the Pančevački Rit, overflew into the pond, but in 2011 an earthen embankment was constructed which prevented the mixing of waters. Also, the pond was enlarged, cleaned and its bottom was dredged. Surrounding area of 8 a (8,600 sq ft) was poured with the gravel.
  The pond is surrounded by the corn fields. The salt water has been tested and according to the city's regulatory plan for the area, it is a sodium chloride water, with elevated levels of bromine and iodine and low levels of radioactivity. Officially, the water is not suited for swimming but it may be used for the treatment of rheumatism, wounds and bone fractures healing, gynecological diseases, etc.
  In December 2017, Minister for construction Zorana Mihajlović announced that Ovča Spa was selected as the best location with the scopes of the government's project for building over 20,000 of low-cost apartments for the state employees. She asserted that the terrain will be prepared for the construction in the first half of 2018. It would be a first phase of the plan, consisting of 2,000 apartments, which would later continue in other parts of Belgrade.
  By 2018, city tried for several times to sell part of the spa area to developers, but all invitations to tender failed. City then drafted the regulatory plan which, with the development of the new settlement, includes the sports, recreational, touristic and spa facilities within the complex of Ovča Spa.
caption: The hydrothermal spring
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