It is Gordan Duhaček’s job to write about corruption and government inaction. But when the journalist started to report on the looming environmental disaster in a national park in Croatia, the story hit a nerve.

Duhaček’s had always felt an affinity with Plitvice National Park’s UNESCO-protected lakes that squat between the jagged limestone rock formations close to the country’s border with Bosnia. He could spend hours walking around, watching the clear water travel through the network of waterfalls that connect the park’s sixteen separate pools.

When asked to describe the park, he says, “Oh my god, you’re asking me to write poetry.”

Now, according to a report by German TV, those waters are contaminated with feces from nearby developments designed for tourists. The government has pledged the problem will be fully resolved by 2023, but Duhaček, who works for the popular, independent news site Index.hr, says the cleanup will take too long: “Why do they need four years to drain a lake of crap?” For him, this isn’t just a story about ecological disaster, it also points to the ruling conservative party’s hypocrisy. “They call themselves patriots yet they don’t care about the most beautiful national park,” he said.