This location is in the eastern end of Popovo Polje, at the western end of its geomorphological sub-division of Trebinjsko Polje, within the Trebinje Region / Trebinje Municipality of the "Republika Srpska" territory of Bosnia & Herzegovina.
It is situated below the Trebinje - Ljubinje Road (ul. X. Herc. Brigade) in the urban district of Zasad at the western end of Trebinje and at the foot of Ilino Brdo.
It can be approached either by driving down a local access road running through the centre of the Donje Zasad housing estate to within a few metres of the site, or simply by taking a ten-minute walk from the Town Centre.
Photographs VOZ 1.1. to 1.4. illustrate the Vrelo "Oko" Location in its urban setting at Zasad.
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2...GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND HISTORICAL USE AS A WATER-SUPPLY UTILITY OF ROMAN, OTTOMAN AND THEN AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN DESIGN-MODIFICATION AND CONSTRUCTION :
Hydrologically, Vrelo "Oko" is very active and as indicated above, was once a very important local Public Water Supply.
There is now evidence located at the very base of the structure to support the claim that it was initially "developed" as such during the Roman Period and substantially rebuilt during the Ottoman Period of Occupation. The site was then substantially rebuilt again during the Period of Austro-Hungarian Occupation in the late 19th Century by the Imperial Karst Engineers, using a tried and tested concept of design and construction, both to introduce a Public Fresh-water Supply for the occupants of the then isolated village community of Zasad and also to meliorate the effects of local polje-floor flooding caused by the annual overflowing of Vrelo "Oko" in order to aid local agricultural development on the adjacent fertile plain of Trebinjsko Polje floor.
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The existing natural spring-cave mouth was firstly excavated by the down to the limestone bedrock, cleared, opened and widened. The task was completed by the installation of a neo-circular masonry shaft or lining with integral spiral stone staircase descending from the surface directly down to a convenient stone platform beneath a stone-arched portal in the spring-cave mouth below.
The nominal internal diameter of this circular stone lining at the present ground level is 4.8 metres. As it descends, this internal masonry lining transforms into a narrower recta-linear shape, giving the cross-sectional appearance of a crude funnel-shape.
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The original water-overflow outlet canal at surface was deepened and masonry-lined to both contain and channel away the excess water directly to the main channel of the Trebišnjica River and thus reduce local flooding.
The structure was subsequently maintained and managed by the relevant Local Authorities during the various political Administrations of the subsequent 50+ years until the village of Zasad was incorporated into the Town of Trebinje in the mid 20th Century and the existing Austro-Hungarian piped Public Water Supply System in Trebinje was then extended to each household in Zasad. The Trebinje Municipality continues to use this system today, although it has since been extended. 
Since this time, the Vrelo "Oko" Water Supply Installation has fallen into disuse, although up until the introduction of modern domestic water supplies, it had certainly been well maintained.
Copies of the original very high quality Austro-Hungarian Maps of Trebinje also continue to be used today as a basis for superimposing details of modern infrastructure and Town Planning details. The original map indicates the location of Vrelo "Oko".
The surface collar of the protruding shaft has been rebuilt in more modern times and is identical in construction to that of the adjacent walls of the refurbished surface overflow canal, as is clearly seen in Photo. VOZ 2.1. below.
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Photo VOZ 1.0B..(left) :
In this zoom image of the surface shaft, the top flight of steps of the internal spiral stone staircase can be seen on the
right-hand side within the shaft.
The second and other lower flights of steps are underwater and cannot be seen.

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Specific details of the Progress of the Habitat Restoration Programme are given in the other Webpages dedicated to this sub-Project.
Once the Location is fully restored to as clean a condition as can be achieved, together with the necessary structural repairs having been completed, a long-term PROTEUS HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN will be activated. A PROTEUS HABITAT PROTECTION & PRESERVATION PLAN securing the long-term future protection of the site will have to be negotiated with the relevant Competent Authorities within the Municipality's Local Government structure and at a higher level if necessary.

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This organization is a local outstation office of a BiH-RS Ministerial Department in Banja Luka. The Trebinje Section is based in ul. Majke Jugovića. The purpose of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage is self explanatory. Vrelo "Oko" represents an Object of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage, all combined in the one Site.  Self-evidently, the Trebinje Office should be quite interested in the Project's activities at Vrelo "Oko".
-..As of August 2007., we had established a local and very enthusiastic contact in Mr Mihajlo Ružić, who revealed much interesting information.
Notably, he showed us a thick volume which specifies that many named cave locations are being proposed for State Protection.
However, at this time, Vrelo "Oko" (Zasad) was not on this list. We were promised that the location would be fully State Protected very soon.
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8.4...(8.2.6. Specific) - Attempts to Contact and Involve :
Republika Srpska -  Republički Zavod za Zaštitu Kulturno Istorijskog i Prirodnog Nasleđa, Banja Luka.
We have been attempting to make initial contact with the Organization's Head Office at the Ministry in Banja Luka. Our progress will be posted here.
We can report that our last resolute attempt to establish some form of contact with this organization was made through the BiH Embassy in London on
04 March 2005. We have learned retrospectively that they were fully aware of our attempted contact.
-..As of August 2007., we had now established a contact with Mrs Jelena Kadić, Director of the Institute in its Banja Luka Office. The issue of the State Protection of Vrelo "Oko" was discussed and we were assured that it would be State Protected.
-..As at mid-September 2008., the location was still not State Protected and heated discussions with the Institute left them in no doubt about our position and our opinion about their corporate capabilities! Although the Institute's Director in Banja Luka had now changed, the local representative, Mr Mihajlo Ružić, was as powerless as ever, though he remained highly enthusiastic. It was also clear to us by this time that the Institute very much needed both our enthusiasm and information. We made it clear that until Vrelo "Oko" (Zasad) was afforded full State Protection, we would not co-operate with the Institute.
We needed to see that they could deliver on their promises and that we not only required our own full copies of the State Protection Citation with its supporting documents but also our own copies of the State Documentation evidence of conferred Protection.
We needed to see action, which is not a normal characteristic found emanating from any Department of the Banja Luka Entity-level Government!!
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In reality, such assumptions as are illustrated above cannot be made in the case of RS-BiH Territory. In the post-Bosnian War era, where the Legal Systems are in a contant state of flux and development and the Constitution of each of the two Political Entities is under regular change. It must also be stated that
the status and applicability of any BiH National Constitution or National Law is presently irrelevant to our situation at  Vrelo "Oko".

.....Section 2.  HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS.
.....ARTICLE 35. "Everyone shall have the right to a healthy environment. Everyone shall be bound, in accordance with Law and within his possibilities, to protect and improve the environment."
[This clearly sets out the civic responsibilities of the individual person not to foul the environment for the common benefit.]

.....Section 3.  ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ORDER.
.....ARTICLE 59. (Cl. 1.)  "Natural resources, urban construction sites, real estate and property of particular economic, cultural and historical significance determined by Law to be of general interest, shall be State-owned."
.....ARTICLE 59. (Cl. 3.)  "Under the conditions determined by Law, the right of use may be instituted on property of general interest as well as on urban construction sites."
.....ARTICLE 59. (Cl. 4.)  "The use and exploitation of property of special cultural, scientific, artistic or historical significance, or significant for the protection of nature or the environment, may be restricted against a full compensation to the owner."
.....ARTICLE 59. (Cl. 5.)  "The protection, use, improvement and management of the property of general interest, as well as the payment of compensation for the use of property of general interest and urban construction sites, shall be regulated by Law."
[An interesting set of Clauses relating to the ownership-status and use of cultural and historical sites of "general interest", which if determined as such by Law, can become State Property and State-controlled. This implies the existence of an Official List of such locations. Clause 3. in particular also implies the existence of such documentation. Could this be found in the Offices of the REPUBLIČKI ZAVOD ZA ZAŠTITU KULTURNO ISTORIJSKOG I PRIRODNOG NASLEĐA, Odelenje Trebinje, we wonder, and do they set out the appropriate protection and management documentation for local sites within their geographical remit?]
.....ARTICLE 64.."The Republic shall protect and encourage the following :
.....-  the rational use of natural resources with the view of protecting and improving the quality of life and protecting and reviving the environment to the general benefit;
.....-  conservation and enrichment of historical, cultural and artistic wealth;
.....-  scientific research;  ..........  "
.....ARTICLE 68.
.....Article 68. has been replaced by AMENDMENT XXXII, reading as follows :
....."The Republic shall regulate and ensure :
.....(Cl. 10.)  organization, competence and the work of State bodies;
.....(Cl. 13.)  environmental protection; ..........  "

Of relevance is the following www entry by the BiH Federal Ministry of Physical Planning and Environment, dated 28 October 1998 :-
"Future Perspectives :
Development and adoption of harmonized (between entities) legislature for the protection of nature and environment is highly prioritised. Strategy, complete programs and plans of preservation and sustainable utilization of biological diversity has not yet been completed. However, Federal Ministry plans to start
with these activities as soon as coordination on these matters is accomplished on the level of the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our country is member of REC, and is involved in some of enviromental programs for CEE and EU, however we view that it is highly necessary to intensify contacts with other European countries and give reasonable contribution to activities of relevant international institutions on global level.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet adopted UN Convention on Biodiversity, nor other intenational conventions on enviroment that had been drafted after 1990. However, Bosnia is interested country. There are initiatives, but it is rather hard to view their implementation due to largely delicate political situation in the country. Bosnia is also interested in implementation of regulations of PEBLDS and in other regional and international projects ...."
We cannot but help wonder that if the Environment is so important to the BiH Government, why is their webpage more than 7 years out of date?

As a first preparatory move, each of these levels will be approached at the current HABITAT RESTORATION PROGRAMME stage of work, so that we may guage interest (or disinterest) and identify useful and effective contacts for the future.

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1.  The Austro-Hungarian Imperial Archives :
The Austro-Hungarian Imperial Archives were, for the most part, duplicated and stored in each of the Capital Cities of the former Dual Monarchy; Budapest (Hungary) and Vienna (Austria). Much of this Archive survives and as a result of war damage, does not necessarily survive in duplicate form.
In the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, such notable karst engineers as Philipp BALLIF actually published books on their successes with major melioration works in the "Karst Territories" of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Others such as Georg LAHNER, another Imperial Karstologist, preferred to publish the results of his military karst hydrological and speleological investigations in the technical newsletters of the Graz Speleological Society within the "non professional" sector, whilst the original documentation was lodged with the Military Authorities in Vienna.

Unfortunately, we are not always blessed with such easy means of access to vital and otherwise very interesting information. In the case of localised small projects such as the hydro-melioration at Vrelo "Oko", meticulously accurate drawings, plans and supportive documentaion would have undoubtedly been drawn up and equally undoubtedly would have been archived in the typically efficient way that Austro-Hungary organized its administrative affairs. In the case of Vrelo "Oko", we have hope that such documentation survives because, as alluded to earlier, it was one single hydro-melioration project in a whole related series of such local ones dedicated to achieving the greater aim of the hydro-melioration of Trebinjsko Polje - a fairly large-scale project of considerable technical achievement.
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From visits we have already made to the Imperial Archive in Budapest, Hungary, we know that very detailed records still survive relating to whom did exactly what and exactly when in such obscure projects as, for example, the hydro-melioration of ponors in the north-western parts of Planinsko Polje in Slovenia. So we are very hopeful that such records exist for works undertaken in the karst territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Trebinje area. 
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The "Kriegsarchiv" (War Archives) of the Austrian State Archives in Vienna, is a vast collection of information in many formats. It holds about 40 linear kilometers (25 miles) of records including more than 240 000 Archival Units (boxes / facsimiles / books), more than 416 000 maps and plans as well as about 300 000 photographs. Before visiting the Archive in November 2005., we had narrowed down our search options to make the visit more time-effective.
From the perspective of obtaining information relevant to Bosnia & Herzegovina, the visit was a great success. However, from the perspective of this Sub-Project, the visit was unsuccessful, due to the chaotic situation of the Archive itself

2.  Bosnia & Herzegovina State Archive :
We are fairly resigned to accepting the fact that there is no surviving archive documentation in Sarajevo relating to the Austro-Hungarian karst melioration projects in the Trebinje Region / Municipality. Many of the technical libraries and archives of State Institutions and Universities were ransacked during the Bosnian War of the 1990's and their contents have now been generally "re-located" to "unknown" locations. Such is the utter futility of War.
However, we are fully aware of some of the locations of certain recipient benefactors of this theft. 

3.  Trebinje Regional and Municipal Archives :
After exhaustive and persistent enquiries in Trebinje and Bileća, we are almost resigned to accepting the fact that there is probably no locally-surviving documentation relating to the constructional details of sites such as Vrelo "Oko". However, there is a glimmer of suspicion on our behalf that there may be some Austro-Hungarian Documentation in existence because we know for a fact that the current topographic maps in use by the Municipal Authorities are based on the original Austro-Hungarian maps. It is also a fact, often declared to us, that local surveyors prefer using the Austro-Hungarian-based Maps because they are far more accurate and meticulous in detail than those subsequently created by the cartographers of ex-Yugoslavia!! The existence of such maps is not generally known about by the Public and they are certainly not available to the General Public. We have already sourced and obtained such maps and we now use the 1 : 25 000., 1 : 2 500 and the 1 : 1 000 Scale Charts in the Project.
The question that needs answering is, what other remnants of infrastructure-documentation of the Period of Austro-Hungarian Administration is locally in existence  ....  and where is it?
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Also of interest was an attempt by the Authorities to establish a Regional General Archive in Trebinje. The building allocated to house this facility was under refurbishment during our visit in July 2004., continued to be unfinished in September 2005 and was abandoned in 2006.
A Map Archive has now been established.

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The location of a landfill site for municipal waste-disposal in this karst area had a high probability of causing trans-State Boundary water pollution problems.
As of early in 2008., this Landfill Site has now been closed and buried.

The provision of rubbish collection skips is now more ubiquitous in Trebinje. However, the issue of where the rubbish is now dumped and how that landfill site is managed, remains to be clarified.

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1...Petrović B. & Prelević B. (1965) *  "Hydrologic Characteristics of the Karst Area of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a Part of Dalmatia with Special Consideration of Underground Water Connections."
.....in :  Naše Jame, 7, (1-2).

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