site.btaBulgaria Ranks Eighth in EU in Terms of Fresh Water Resources

Bulgaria Ranks Eighth in EU in Terms of Fresh Water Resources

Sofia, May 26 (BTA) - Bulgaria has 101,000 million cu m fresh water a year and by this resource ranks eighth in the European Union in terms of renewable freshwater resources, Environment and Water Minister Ivelina Vassileva said. She was speaking at the Fifth Annual Water Conference which opened Thursday at Sofia's Hotel Balkan.
   
Water loss and water supply deficit, the amortized water supply facilities, the still insufficient share of waste water treatment and the bad financial stability of the water and sanitation sector made it imperative for the government to undertake adequate measures, Vassileva said.
   
It has been calculated that the funds required for the development, rehabilitation, maintenance, restructuring and management of the entire infrastructure in Bulgaria amounts to nearly 12,000 million leva. A total of 2,300 million leva under Operational Programme Environment for the new programming period have been provided in support of water reform, regional investment planning, water monitoring and development of water and sanitation infrastructure in settlements with over 10,000 residents, the minister said. A total of 751 million leva have already been provided for early investment projects on the territory of 17 municipalities after the first calls for tender.
  
Another 240 million leva will also be set aside for investments in the sector.