site.btaProject for Updating River Basin Management Plans in East-Aegean Region Presented

Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria, November 15 (BTA) - The Environment and Water Ministry presented here on Monday the latest work on updating the river basin management plans for the East-Aegean region. A team of the Ministry's Water Management Directorate and experts of the East-Aegean Basin Directorate are analysing and assessing the state of the water bodies and the impact on them of various factors. Measures are being mapped out for the sustainable management of water resources in the period from 2022 to 2027.

This is the third cycle of development of river basin management plans by the four basin directorates which cover Bulgaria's territory, project manager Maria Arangelova said. The implementation of the project will ensure the good state of water bodies and the related ecosystems and water protection areas.

The project, worth a total of 24 million leva, is financed under the Environment Operational Programme 2014-2020. Some 85 per cent of the financing, or 20,400,000 leva, are provided in grant aid from the EU's Cohesion Fund, and 15 per cent, national financing. The deadline of the project is in 2023.

The updated six-year plans for 2022-2027 are a key element of water management, both in terms of planning and implementation of measures for ensuring the good state of the water bodies and in terms of expanding the inter-departmental and regional cooperation in the process of planning, Arangelova said. DD/ZH