o:8034 Assessment of surface water pollution by heavy metals in Serbia en The quality of surface waters in Serbia is systematically monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency as a competent authority. For the purposes of this publication, data on lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd) concentrations of the all monitored water bodies (2016-2022) were selected as indicators of the trends in surface water quality. Evaluation of the water quality was based on the limit values for priority and priority hazardous substances (Pb, Ni, Cd) in surface waters (Environmental Quality Standards - EQS) which are established by the "Official Gazette of RS", No. 24/2014 and "Official Gazette of RS", No. 50/2012 (for the Cu, Zn and Cr). Considering all metals, only a few percent of the values exceeded the MDK values, while over 90 % of the results indicate low pollution and good ecological status of the water bodies. The most polluted water samples were detected on the profiles Srpski Itebej (river Begej), Kraljevo and Raska (river Ibar) Novi Sad (channel DTD), Hetin (river Stari Begej), Jasa Tomic (river Tamis), Markovicevo (river Brzava), and Novi Becej (river Tisa). The highest levels of contamination were observed on the Vrbica profile (river Zlatica) in April 2019, with peak concentrations of Zn (9530 µg/L), Cu (3221 µg/L), and Cr (55.3 µg/L). In summary, elevated concentrations of heavy metals do exist but overall trends suggest relatively low pollution levels in the majority of monitored water bodies. Heavy metals; Surface water pollution; Environmental Quality Standards; Serbia 1552100 978-86-6022-733-3 2025-07-29T07:43:12.639Z 44 no 46 Tatjana Mitrović Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia Marija Perović Jaroslav Černi Water Institute, Belgrade, Serbia person 0000-0003-2045-001X Darija Obradović Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia person application/pdf 475065 https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:8034 no yes 1 70 92000001 71A04 3rd International EUROSA Conference, Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia 1 9 Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia 2025