site.bta500,000 Leva to Be Provided for Decommissioning of 78 Potentially Dangerous Dams

500,000 Leva to Be Provided for Decommissioning of 78 Potentially Dangerous Dams


Sofia, December 1 (BTA) - A total of 500,000 leva will be made
available to the Agriculture and Food Ministry to decommission
78 potentially dangerous dams. The decommissioning will be
carried out by the Irrigation Systems company under the umbrella
 of the Ministry, ministers said Monday after an extraordinary
meeting of the cabinet which considered the state of dams in
Bulgaria after the devastating floodings in the summer.

Environment and Water Minister Ivelina Vassileva said that
problems and legal moot points have been established in respect
of the management and exploitation of dams. Attending the
meeting were also prosecutors who conducted checks for the
causes of the floodings. The checks' findings listed the need to
 improve the mechanisms for maintenance and repair works of
dams, conductivity of riverbeds, better coordination among the
control bodies, etc.

The Monday cabinet meeting approved a report with measures for
long-term solution of the problems by drafting legal amendments
by the end of the year to put in place a single national control
 body in charge of dams. Regional governors will be in charge of
 overseeing 268 dams with unclear ownership.

Regional Development and Public Works Minister Lilyana Pavlova
said, speaking at a news conference after the meeting, that the
technical supervision and management of dams will be assigned to
 the State Agency for Metrological and Technical Supervision.
This will be done in pursuance of legal amendments to the Water
Act.

Dam operators, water and sewerage companies, Irrigation Systems,
 and local administrations are to carry out the prescriptions of
 the future single control institution for ensuring the safe
management of dams.

Pavlova said also that ownership is unclear of 268 dams, all of
them small ones. Many of them lack the technical equipment to
drain water. Pavlova and the Interior Ministry have already
authorized regional governors to undertake urgent measures to
clarify the ownership of the dams.